Strife
by Jazzi Strife
Summary: It is only a day after Sephiroth was defeated at the crater and he's back. But this time Cloud has to face someone he never expected, his own sister! Jazzi Strife joins our villain in the chance to find love, but will she find it? Language & violence.
1. The Crater

Chapter 1: The Crater

The sun rose over the northern continent, making the white snow on the ground almost blinding to look at. Though the temperature stayed the same, the morning cold had a sharp bite to it, which would make anyone think twice about venturing out in the snow wasteland...well almost anyone. A young woman could be seen trudging through the snow, heading north further into the continent's heart...the crater. She was far away from the crater, maybe three miles still to go, but she trudged on through the deep snow. A close look at this woman would make any man smile; she had long dark crimson red hair that reached her lower back. Her shapely body was covered in only a pair of kaki short shorts, and a black tank top that showed off her flat stomach that had some definition to it. Most of her skin was red now from the cold, her legs suffering the most from being against the sub-zero snow. She had a brown pack on her back, just slightly filled up. The last observation you could possibly make on this woman was her stunning eyes because her head was facing the ground, watching her steps as she made them, but when she flipped her head up, making her hair fly back away from her face you could plainly see her eyes were a radiant emerald green. As you watched this fair creature, you had to wonder what she might be doing here in this freezing white blanket of landscape.

"Oh it's so cold..." her teeth chattered as she spoke, she had her arms folded against her chest. "How could it be this cold in the summer? Boy, I feel stupid for coming here in shorts..."

She continued to trudge as she spoke to herself, but her pace grew slower quickly as her body became too cold, "I have to keep moving..." with her knowing that, she began to run as fast as she could through the deep snow, trying to keep her body from freezing to death. It started to work after a bit of time, but then she lost her balance in a deep pile of snow and fell face-first into a drift fluffy white. Her body stun everywhere that the snow made direct contact with her fair skin, and soon she was shaking so badly that her body's spastic movements knocked off the snow that was on top of her. Her mind fell away from where she was, and her shaking stopped as she lost all consciousness. Her mind traveled away to last night and why she was now in a drift of snow in the middle of nowhere.

She stood at the top of mount Nibel, watching to the north, as a bright light exploded from what she could sense was the crater. Her eyes reflected the bright light, as her eyes became glossy, tearing up...knowing what that meant. It meant Cloud had won...beaten down Sephiroth, and though everyone else in the world that saw that magnificent spectacle was joyous, she could not find even a smile inside of her. Her head turned quickly when Meteor rushed through the atmosphere and stopped, hovering over Midgar. She stood there in "aw" at the terrifying display. It twirled around in a massive circle over the largest city on the planet, causing tornadoes and strong winds to rip the whole city apart. Though not too long after the gigantic bringer of Sephiroth's furry showed up, the ground around her in several different spots started to glow a vibrant mako green.

"What the hell?" She slowly backed up against the rock wall, watching streams of mako come out of the ground, and it did not take her long to know what it was, "life stream..."

It went up, spiraling around itself as it continued its way up into the air. The confused woman looked around from her top view of the landscape all around her, and her eyes widen, seeing this phenomenon happening all over the planet. Green lights shined up the night sky everywhere she looked then suddenly all at once they headed in the direction of the Meteor. Her teachings from Red's grandpa had helped her now to understand what was happening.

"The planet is trying to save itself..." as she stood there, one of the life stream waves went right through her. She could look down and see the green glow coming out of her mid section of her body, and it left a warm feeling that felt like she had just laid into a hot steaming bath that spread through out her entire self. Her eyes closed slowly and as she did, she saw Aeris's face smiling at her, and she knew that the life stream flowing through her was Aeris's. Her smile was almost mischievous, the way she looked right at her, but then she was gone. Her eyes opened quickly to see the life stream had passed through her now, but the warm sensation stayed. While she was in a daze about what just happened, the sky grew brighter full of green.

She moved her red hair out of her face then her eyes widened to see the wonderful sight, all the life streams were spiraling around the Meteor, then suddenly a flash of light so bright she was forced to close her eyes.

She opened her eyes to feel that warmth run through her body once more, and the bitter cold from the snow had faded away. With the renewed strength in remembering the night before she got up and began running once more, only this time more carefully. Her determination grew as she ran, and all she wanted to do was get to that crater. As she still ran her heart out for a good mile the warmth in her body grew within her chest, but her legs were once again starting to feel the bite of the snow's harsh temperatures. She bit down, taking the pain and kept running, now the pain driving her harder, rather than slowing her down. She took her eyes off her footsteps and when she looked into the horizon, she saw the sight she had been waiting for. It was the crater, now in her grasp practically, as she tried to run faster now. As she quickened her pace she nearly tripped again but caught her balance before doing so and continued to run her way right for the crater's tall rim. Once she got there, it didn't seem as tall as it should have been, but she soon learned why...much of the crater had collapsed last night and left a snow and dirt filled area inside of its rim. Also many glowing spheres of materia lied among the crater's rim in the snow. Jazzi could only figure they were made from the explosion's heat and pressure. Jazzi decided to leave the materia untouched...she had more important things on her mind. She stood at the very edge, looking down into the crater, scanning for any signs of Sephiroth's body, but soon after she started looking, the rim gave way underneath her. Her eyes grew wide as her body fell down twenty-five feet to the crater's newly made floor. Upon landing her left leg was flooded with a sharp pain, she then rolled over as fast as possible. She couldn't believe the sight she saw, her leg was bleeding everywhere and she could plainly see a massive gash over her mid-thigh. Slowly her head turned right to see what had cut her leg so deeply, and when see spotted the cause her face lit up into a smile as she forgot completely that her leg was bleeding so bad. There hidden just slightly by dirty snow and now blood soaked snow was the legendary masamune of Sephiroth's. When her mind came back to reality she took off her pack and searched through it to find a potion she could use. She started to panic when she couldn't find anything. "No I know I packed some! This is impossible...I have to have one!"

She sighed deeply as she tried to calm down and think. Once she made herself stop panicking, she ripped one strap off her pack. Her hand was shaking as she placed the strap under her thigh; it soon became a dark red, covered in blood. She knew what she had to do, but she feared the pain it would cause. She inhaled slowly, and bit down on her lip as she quickly tied the strap down on her gash as tight as she could. Her mouth opened and her eyes closed tightly in pain as she tried to tighten it some more despite the pain that made her hands shake even more and a tear to escape the corner of her clamped down eyelids. It took her some time to tie a knot because her hands were trembling too much. Her watered eyes opened slowly once she was done, and slowly started to stand, putting as much of her weight on her right leg as possible without tipping over. Despite the fear she now had that she may never leave this crater and die in the same burial grounds that Sephiroth's body laid she tried to relax and think of what to do. Her stubborn self refused to leave now that she was here without finding Sephiroth alive or dead. The snow beneath her feet was slowly turning a darker red by the second as her left leg was completely covered in her blood, there was hardly a spot left of her nature cream skin color. She sighed heavily trying to think of what to do. Then she remembered the masamune. "How could I have forgotten about his sword?"

As she walked back to the masamune slowly, limping all the way as every step caused an adrenaline rush of pain to fly through her body. She slowly knelt down then quickly sat because the pain was too great. Once the pain faded she slowly started to remove the snow around the blade in search for the handle. Jazzi had to scoot about two feet before the handle was found. As she continued to dig at the snow, she made a shocking discovery. Sephiroth's hand was gripped around the masamune's handle. Though as she uncovered more of his body, she realized something wasn't right. His skin had a green tint to it from the mako casing that enclosed Sephiroth. The mako was hard as a rock, and about three inches thick. Jazzi's digging pace increased until she revealed his face. His eyes were closed, and a small trail of blood trailed out of his mouth. Upon further inspection, Jazzi noticed that the masamune had a thin layer of mako over it. Then Jazzi pulled out one of her daggers that she always kept in her boots. With aim and care she began to chip away the thin layer of mako from the top of the handle. With one last firm hit on the area, a large chunk cracked and then fell off, revealing most of his hand. With her free hand, she gently touched his exposed his skin, and it wasn't as cold as she had expected. Jazzi then began to tear and chip off the mako, piece by piece until she was up to his shoulder of the arm she had been freeing. There was an air pocket on the other side of his neck that would be easy to chip off without a risk of hitting Sephiroth. With a sigh, she rose up the dagger and hit the mako as hard as she could. The blade ripped through the mako, shattering the green crystal. The shattered mako rippled and cracked almost to his waist, and completely revealed his face. Jazzi put away her dagger and sighed again as she rested for a moment. Then she felt for a pulse on his neck...nothing. The exhausted woman placed her hands on his chest and sent a small electric current through his body...still no heartbeat. She continued another three times with no luck, and finally she just sat in the snow beside him, taking another rest. Soon she felt very dizzy, and before she could react...Jazzi already fell in the snow, unconscious.

Jazzi's efforts did not go un-rewarded though. In Sephiroth's body, his heart began to once again pump blood throughout his veins. It took five minutes for the color in his skin to fully return, and a minute later his vibrant green eyes opened up. He began to move his hands...arms...neck...and finally sat up. He gave a confused look to see his legs encased by mako, but quickly freed himself. He looked down to see a mold of his backside in green mako among the snow. Then he noticed the woman...she looked familiar to him somehow. He stretched out a bit, feeling tired and sore, but he didn't care...he was alive.

"Damn you Cloud...I will repay you soon now, just you wait I'll take my revenge against all you love, and only then will I ki..." as he spoke his eyes traveled back to the woman lying in the snow, causing him to trail off and loose his thought. She had tiny bits of mako over her, making the suggestion she had removed the mako from him. "Well I guess I should help her...I mean she did save me, I suppose. I wonder why she helped me...no one has ever helped me with anything, and she saves my life?" He slowly turned her over so he could see her face, then his eyes widen with hatred, he could now place whom she was. "Jazzi Strife!" His mind was brought back when he met her... "Nibelheim, the mission...she's Cloud's sister. Yes now I remember her vividly."

He stood over her, with his masamune in hand as he glared upon her, debating in his mind whether to kill her, or just leave her here to fend for herself. In the back of his mind, something cried out to help her...it was his conscience, something that had not spoke up in years. Sephiroth's hard glare slowly disappeared then he knelt down beside her, "what is it about her? She baffled me when I met her...and now I can't kill her. I've never not been able to do anything..." he glared a bit, mad that she had somehow done this to him. Without another thought running threw his head, he used Cure 3 on her. Sephiroth watched as her gash started to disappear.

Jazzi's eyes opened slowly, to see Sephiroth knelt down right above her practically. At first it scared her and she scooted back real quick. "Sephiroth...you're alive!"

"You noticed that too? Well Jazzi I wouldn't be I fear if it hadn't of been for you. So...thank you." He almost cringed as he said those words, never thanking a single being for anything in his life.

Her face lit up when he said her name. "You remember me...I didn't expect that." She looked down at her leg, and untied the strap to see her leg was completely healed. "Well thank you too. It seems I owe you my life as well."

His eyes moved to her smile, then back up to her eyes...they shimmered, emerald green and looked as if they had so much meaning hidden into them. As he stared into them, he almost became lost.

"Sephiroth?" Jazzi smiled a bit nervously, as he stared at her. "You ok?"

He blinked a bit as she moved slightly, he then looked at her again "What?...oh yes I'm fine. I must ask you...why did you come here?"

"Oh well...I saw everything that happened last night...and"

Sephiroth quickly cut her off, "what do you mean...what happened?"

"Meteor came...and was hovering over Midgar. When it looked as if we were about to be wiped out, the planet's life stream from all of the world flew towards Meteor...saving itself."

Sephiroth smiled evilly, "I knew it...I knew the planet would use great amounts of energy to save itself. If only I could have been at the center of it to absorb that wonderful power." After a moment he looked back at Jazzi. "So why did seeing that make you come here?"

"I came to find you..." she looked up at him, both now standing, she was at least six inches shorter than him. Her eyes seemed so lost now, waiting to be found.

"Me?...you mean that you traveled all the way from Nibelheim to here, just to find me? But why come to find me if it was almost certain that I was dead?"

"I knew you weren't dead. It was just something I had a gut feeling about. I guess it was right." She smiled at him, wondering what he might be thinking right now.

"You had a gut feeling? About me? What is that suppose to mean?" Sephiroth looked down at her, through a few strands of silver hair.

Jazzi bit her lower lip a bit and shrugged. "Well I mean come on you're Sephiroth...as powerful as you are, I doubted you were dead." She sighed a bit, moving her own dark crimson hair out of her face.

"I am grateful for your help." His eyes suddenly got dimmer, as he glared slightly. "But I can't ignore that you are the sister to my most hated enemy...do not think I will spare your life forever." He whipped out his masamune, placing it an inch from Jazzi's jugular.

Her eyes widened and her muscles tensed all over her body making her breathing almost unnoticeable. Slowly she moved her mouth to speak. "Just because I am his sister, doesn't mean you should kill me now. I obviously do not feel the same way about you as he does."

"Your right. I won't kill you now...I'll leave that little task for a later date." He smirked evilly as he pressed the blade against her neck till he could see a drop of blood run down his blade and a few down her neck. "There's a little reminder of our future date together."

Jazzi stepped away and held her hand against her bleeding neck. Her eyes looked distressed and lost for a few seconds as they darted across the ground. Then she looked up at him in a small amount of fear mixed with a lot of other feelings no one could have guessed by her face. Suddenly she was just plain out mad. "I didn't come all the way up here to safe you and then have you threaten my life!" Jazzi walked closer to him with a glare of lightning sparks coming from her pupils. "If you want to try and kill me, then do it now so I can kill you right now in this crater where I found you, before I notice I made a mistake reviving you in the first place!"

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow as the young woman stepped up to him, now only inches away and glaring up at him. "My, don't you have some balls...what makes you think you could ever defeat me? How old can you be, maybe 20 at the latest? Look here little lady, be thankful I'm not killing you and get out of my way."

"I am 22 years old, and that's plenty old to know my strength limits by now. And I know I am a match for you."

Sephiroth blinked for a second or two, and then smirked. "Sorry I'm not the couple type..."

Jazzi's glare hardened in an instant. "I did not mean it that way! I meant that..."

He cut her off with a smirk still on his face. "Are you sure you

didn't mean it that way? I think you just might of."

Her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out but a few mumbles. Then she sighed, showing her great aggravation before she spoke. "No I certainly did not..." Her eyes looked away slowly. "Why would I want to be a match with a lunatic like you?"

"Maybe the same reason you came all the way up here to save this lunatic." Sephiroth glared down at her with some curiosity of what her response may be.

Jazzi was flabbergasted... Sephiroth had pinned her within the first minutes of speaking together after the years ago that they first met. He knew how she was thinking, and it irritated her to no end. She knew that she also irritated him that she was Cloud's sister and he now owed her something. "I came here because..." She sighed, and spoke again with a new sense of priority. "Because, when I stood there watching Meteor fly towards this Earth, and I became afraid that I may be witnessing my death...a thought crossed my mind. A man with enough power to summon something like that could do great good is he just had the right guidance, and a someone to...to"

"Someone to be with?" Sephiroth shook his head slowly. "Sorry Jazzi, I was made to be a killing machine...not some goody good doer like you or your brother. No I have my job...and it's to give people like Cloud to fight in an epic battle till finally either good or evil prevails. Which, in this case is evil...it will be now with your help. So thank you for helping me. I am now fit enough to win slowly but surely in this world. Whether I have someone beside me or not will not make a difference at all. How could it?"

"Oh but you're wrong...having someone by your side can be the difference between life and death. But I don't care if you have a partner or not. It's none of my concern, and never will be, and that is just fine by me."

"Is it? Somehow I don't think you feel that way."

"Listen here smart ass...if you think you know so much about women, why have never had one with you...ever?" Jazzi raised one eyebrow with a snooty look on her face.

Sephiroth cringed a bit. "Oh please...women are nothing but trouble, and would probably get me killed."

"It seems to me that without this woman...you would be dead."

Sephiroth's eyes glared suddenly, and his face became rather flushed. "I have no more time for this or for you to keep distracting me! Now I am going to leave you here. Do not follow me, and the next I see you I will kill you. Keep that in mind, the next time you feel a need to fill your curiosity. Ignore it, or it will kill you just like the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'. You will be that cat...and I'll be the dog that will get you in the end."

Jazzi stood in wonderment, and smirked. "Just because I out spoke you, you are threatening my life...again?"

A sneer formed on his face. "That is not why I am threatening you. I am threatening you because you are my enemy despite you helping me, you are the enemy and I will sooner or later vanquish you. Just like I will soon vanquish Cloud and his little friends, but I think I'll kill you first right in front of him so he has to suffer, knowing it was his fault you died."

"Fine Sephiroth, go right ahead and think like that, but I know better. The moment you leave this crater your mind will travel back to it and think of me. How gutsy and wild I was for standing up to you, for saving you, and your mind will keep puzzling about me over and over...but I'm sure you don't agree, so please go ahead and prove me wrong. Get the hell out of here."

Sephiroth went to step forward a bit but stopped himself and shrugged. "Very well..." Sephiroth put his masamune away and nodded at her with a smirk. "I'll see you around." He closed his eyes and was off like a flash.

Jazzi stepped forward, looking up as she could watch him fly away. Her mouth formed into a small smile as she grabbed her pack and went to find a way out of the half collapsed crater. After a minute or so she found a crumbled area and climbed up with fair enough ease. Once she reached the top, she saw only white powder against blue sky. The sight caused her some distress, and she sighed as she began to trudge through the snow, headed for the southern port.

His eyes opened slowly to see Jazzi standing in the crater, his eyes stayed on her till she became such a small dot in the white landscape he couldn't she her movement. He looked forward with a smirk, thinking about his first move. What should he do now that he was free? He had the element of surprise, not a soul knew he was alive...no one. Then she crossed his mind. Jazzi knew very well he was alive; she could very well go tell Cloud, Shin-Ra's army...the whole world. It would be a trap only to feel the shame of defeat again. Then he shook his head, he could not see her doing that. Maybe anyone else, but not her...maybe he thought that just because she was the only soul to have ever helped him when he needed it. Then his mind traveled further as he thought of her, remembering the day he met her.

Cloud was feeling car sick from the ride there. As they entered the small and quiet town of Nibelheim, people shut themselves inside their homes in what appeared to be fear. Then a door flying open and this young woman broke the silence with long red hair running towards our squad. She stopped in front of Sephiroth and smiled this incredibly gorgeous smile that made her look even younger than she was. She introduced herself very formally and politely to Sephiroth, and then she asked where Cloud was. Sephiroth directed her to the town entrance, where Cloud was getting over his nausea. She said thanks then headed quickly that way. It wasn't till the next day that he saw Jazzi again. This young woman, much like Jazzi's age had coal black hair and a shapely figure was to be the mission group's tour guide to the Mount Nibel reactor, but Jazzi showed up and insisted Tifa was wrong for the job. After he watched the two ladies argue for a few minutes, he chose Jazzi to be the tour guide. Later that day they were hiking up the mountain, on the bridge, and it gave out, sending everyone to the ground. When they had landed, Sephiroth immediately looked for Jazzi to make sure she was ok. To his surprise, she was helping Cloud up. From then on she kept surprising him throughout the hike, and the few days to come. Then when he started to burn all of Nibelheim down his mind was fuzzy, and he couldn't stop himself. Then he saw her, on the ground trying to get up and in his way. He stopped himself somehow, he chose her alone to live among the whole town.

Suddenly his mind was snapped back to reality. The voices of people on the shore below knocked him out of his thinking state. His eyes skimmed the area and a smirk came to his face. "Hello, hello."

Jazzi trudged through the snow for what seemed forever, but it was only a little over an hour and a half, the walk back was quickened by her need to get home before she was missed. She longed to get back to Nibelheim, walk into that big mansion, upstairs into the bedroom and fall asleep for hours to come. That thought flew out of her mind in a split second as she saw the snow turn from white to red. A corpse laid in front of her, then as she looked up on the horizon her mouth dropped. Everyone on the port was dead...then on the water a large cargo ship sailed away, and somehow she knew that there was a presence on there. Sephiroth was on it...that meant that he was a very slow flyer, has thinking about her too much, or he took precious time killing every last person.

Sephiroth walked to the back of the ship, looking back at the now empty port. A smirk formed on his face to feel the sensation of death once more. Then his smirk grew bigger as he saw Jazzi run to the end of the docks, watching the cargo ship sail off. Sephiroth just waved with the evil smile upon his face till he could no longer see her, or she could see him.


	2. Truth Revealed

Chapter 2: Truth Revealed

The sun had been out for hours, as it now even shined its vibrant rays upon the slopes of the mountains above Nibelheim. Many people were busy among the small town, buying items at the local shop as others were visiting with friends or reminiscing. Inside the Strife home, Cloud still lay sound asleep. He had slept most of the day before away as well. He was enjoying the sleep from such a long journey and battle. His sweet slumber was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening then being shut rather noisily.

"Hey Cloud, where are you?" Jazzi walked into the bedroom to see her older brother lying lazily just barely awake. "You lazy bum...get up its past ten o'clock!"

Cloud looked up at her and rubbed his eyes a bit, then stretched with a large yawn. "What happened to you? You look like shit." He stood up, looking at her tangled hair, cut neck, and her leg that had slight signs of old dried blood.

His younger sister looked herself over real quick then shrugged. "Oh nothing, I was just hiking about in the mountains this morning because I got up early. I just came by for some shampoo, and then I'll be off to my second home to take a shower and some rest...mountain climbing sure takes it out of you."

Cloud raised one eyebrow at her as he scratched at his blonde covered scalp. "You're up to something...you're acting weird."

"I am not acting weird. You are paranoid there brother. So hey how are things going with Tifa?"

"Ok now I know something's up! You hate Tifa; you would never ask that on a normal basis unless you were trying to clear your head of guilt. What have you done?" Cloud crossed his arms across his chest with a look of annoyance.

Jazzi smirked a bit at her sibling. "Honestly I have done nothing, I just want to wash my hair and get some rest. Is that a crime now a days?"

Cloud looked at her for a second and shrugged. "I'll find out sooner or later I'm sure, so go ahead and don't tell me. I'll find out on my own just fine I'm sure."

She smiled with a nod. "Sure if you think that, but I've done nothing." The young woman walked into the bathroom, grabbing the shampoo bottle. "Thanks Cloud for the shampoo and the lecture." Jazzi closed the door behind her, again rather loudly.

Cloud just shrugged it off, as he walked over to the couch in the living room. He went for the remote control and at the same time flopped down onto the comfortable old couch. Cloud slowly started rummaging through the channels, looking for anything good to be on the television. After going through about fifteen channels, he saw a news reporter talking about the crater phenomenon and the Meteor's near collision with earth. His mako eyes got brighter as they spoke his name. Ever since he had gotten home, he had hammed up all chances he could of his heroic deeds.

Jazzi had a smile upon her face that would make anyone who noticed her to smile as well. She walked up to the mansion's iron gates and slowly pushed one side open, causing a squeaky noise that proved rust was starting to finally form. With another sound of rusty metal, she shut the gate behind her and walked the stone path to the front door. As she stepped into the house, her smile got a little bigger. The old vines still covered the windows above the staircase, and dust was in a fine layer on most of everything downstairs since she normally only occupied the upstairs and library. She made her way up the stairs and to the right, through the hallway where most of her late teen years and since have been spent. She laid her old pack down on the bed in the room with the entrance to the library. With a small sigh, she looked at the library's stony entrance for a moment or two then turned to the bathroom two doors down.

Cloud laid against a pillow as he continued to watch the news commentator talk away about the devastating damage done by Meteor, and the natural phenomenon that saved the entire planet. Suddenly the reporter was handed a piece of paper, which caused the reporter to be quiet for a few moments as he read it. With a nervous look, his eyes moved back to the camera... "This just in: to all of this planet's population. Sephiroth has been spotted on the southern rim of the northern Continent. Many were killed at the harbor area, but a lone woman managed to survive, but soon left the sight as well. Sephiroth is heading for the main land... and is here! Everyone call Soldier... call Cloud Strife to stop this mad man!"

Sephiroth stepped on screen and as he did so, he swiftly sliced the anchorman's throat. The evil man turned towards the camera with a mischievous smile. "Yes Cloud wherever you are out there... why don't you come out to play? If not... well that's okay, because I am coming for you. You and the lovely marked one. That's right, Cloud, I am after another woman you hold dear. Can you stop me from getting this one? I doubt it! You have little time to prove me wrong Cloud, so I suggest you hurry." Sephiroth let out an evil laugh that lasted for a few seconds until the connection was lost, and the screen went fuzzy.

Jazzi walked into the bedroom once again, wrapped up in a black towel. She opened up the small dresser draw, pulling out her favorite outfit. It was a pair of skintight short shorts made of soft leather, the shirt she had to match was rather baggy, falling off one shoulder and was cut short enough to show off her firm stomach. To finish off her ensemble she put on her brown boots that were a riding style. She was in the middle of brushing her halfway dried hair when she heard Cloud screaming for Tifa.

"Tifa! Hey Tifa come here!" Cloud ran towards the dark-haired woman with a sense of distress.

Tifa turned her head around and looked at Cloud running towards her with her chestnut brown eyes. "Yes, Cloud? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Above the area, Jazzi stood listening out of the bedroom window with a suspicious look. She had always hated Tifa for as long as she could remember. She wondered what her brother could have possibly wanted with her.

"I was watching TV, and I saw...I saw Sephiroth! He is alive, Tifa!" Cloud was out of breath from sprinting to find her.

Tifa eyes widened as her mouth just dropped open. "Are you sure? How...Why?"

"That's not all. He said he was coming after the lovely marked one, and was going to take another woman out of my life. You're the only one I have left Tifa...I think he means you!" Cloud had a hold of Tifa by her shoulders with a slightly tight grip.

Jazzi's mouth dropped as she over heard. Sephiroth was coming for her, and Cloud thought he meant Tifa! Yeah right, she's not worth walking two steps to get, let alone the miles he was surely going to take. Jazzi's face lit up with a smile then it quickly faded. Was he coming to take her with him, or was he planning to kill her like he had said?

Tifa closed her eyes with a sigh. "This is awful...how could he of possibly still be alive? Even if you didn't kill him, the weather would have been enough to freeze him to death. You don't think he has an ally that saved him, do you?"

"No way! Who would ever help that lunatic do anything? Besides, I don't think Sephiroth trusts anyone enough to let them be his ally. He knows too many people would double cross him." Cloud stopped and thought for a moment. "I don't even know anyone who would offer their help in the first place. That doesn't matter now anyways...he's back and we need to stop him, but first you need to go into hiding. I will call the others and have them all come here. We'll ambush him in the mansion, since I think that is where he will go first."

Tifa nodded in agreement. "Sounds great, but isn't Jazzi in there?" She was quiet for a second, looking up at the mansion and saw Jazzi watching them both. Tifa sneered up at her then whispered to Cloud. "I just thought of this, but I saw Jazzi sneak out in the middle of the night, last night. Then I saw her come back into town not even an hour ago. Do you know what she's up to?"

Cloud's eyes widened a bit, and he looked up at the mansion's upstairs window with a suspicious look at his younger sister.

Jazzi raised one eyebrow at him and Tifa. "What the fuck are you looking at slut!"

Tifa glared harder at Jazzi then smirked. "Oh I was just telling Cloud how you went somewhere last night, and did not come home till just an hour ago."

The redheaded woman's eyes widened a bit in fury. "Why don't you mind your own fucking business for once? If I want my brother to know about my affairs I'll tell him myself!"

Cloud turned to face the mansion. "Jazzi, shut up for one second, and get down here. I want to know what you're up to. I knew it from this morning that you were up to something."

Jazzi sighed with aggravation as she watched Tifa's smug face just smirking up at her. She was caught, and she had no idea how to get out of it. Her mind started to race through possibilities as she shut the window and slowly made her way downstairs. Even as she was almost down the massive stairwell, she still didn't have a clue of what to tell her brother. Then she got to the front door, and shrugged a bit. "He'll find out sooner or later, I might as well start the fireworks now." She opened the door, and walked outside where her brother and the meddling Tifa waited.

"Ok Jazzi, tell me, what's going on with you? What have you been up to?" Cloud stood with his arms crossed across his chest, and Tifa standing to his side with that mocking smirk that made Jazzi want to cut it off.

Suddenly a thought came to Jazzi and she knew it would work. "Well Cloud if you must know... I left last night and went to Wutai. I had to see me older teacher from there because he needed me there. He is retiring, and as you know when a master teacher like him retires he picks his best pupil to show the results of his long time work."

Tifa laughed aloud a bit, "Why would he choose you?"

Jazzi glared at Tifa as she grit her teeth together. "Because, Tifa, I am a master at the martial arts, and I could kill you now if I wished. I do wish to, but Cloud unfortunately likes you so I won't. But the ceremonies are done at night so I left in time to make it there. I told no one because it's a personal achievement that I wanted to enjoy alone. If I told anyone Cloud would want to see it, Red would, and maybe even Vincent and Yuffie."

Cloud's stern look faded and turned into a smile. "Congrats Jazzi. I knew you were a good fighter, but to be picked as his best is an honor. I'm happy for you."

"Thank you Cloud. Now are you satisfied Tifa?" She glared over at the brunette with a tone of irritation.

"I guess I'll have to be. Come on Cloud we you have to get a hold of the others, and I have to make myself scarce." Tifa walked away, headed for the hotel, where she was going to stay for the day.

"Jazzi, I need you to go get Red. He's a good friend of yours, and the only way to reach him is to go there. While you are doing that, I'm going to call up everyone else." Cloud smiled then walked inside the Strife home.

She smiled at the thought of seeing her good friend again, and not after long Jazzi was half way there, crossing the river over a small bridge that she helped build at one time. Before reaching Cosmo Canyon her mind thought about Sephiroth. Why would he be coming after her? Had she upset him enough for him to want her to die sooner then waiting for her to seek him out? But yet again, there was always the small flicker of hope that he may be coming for her because he wants her company on his journey. She continued contemplating the possibilities until she found herself up the stairs of the Canyon. Not five seconds after entering the small town she heard Red's voice yelling a hello.

"Jazzi! Hey Jazzi, how are you?" She looked up to see the large cat jumping and bounding down the stairs.

Jazzi smirked as she shook her head. "Cloud wants your help at Nibelheim."

Red stopped in front of her not even out of breath with a curious look. "Oh really...with what, Jazzi?"

"Well Sephiroth is still alive...and Cloud seems to think he's going after Tifa in Nibelheim by tomorrow. He's getting everyone together to fight Sephiroth off."

Red lowered his head and his ears no longer perked. "I sensed that he might return, but I never thought it was going to be so soon. We've only had one day of rest, but yes, of course I will come and help. Come on Jazzi we can leave immediately."

"Yeah, I agree lets go before Cloud has a heart attack on his own." She smirks, as they walk down the stone steps side by side.

Soon the two reached the small town of Nibelheim, and Cloud was there to greet them. "Oh Red, I am so glad you you're here! Sephiroth has come back and I need your help, Cid, Tifa, and Barret are already here. We're still waiting on Yuffie and Vincent. Let's go into the mansion and strategize our attack...um Jazzi, why don't you go into the house and stay out of trouble."

"Hey!...why do I have to stay out of the way? I can fight too, you know!" Jazzi placed her hands onto her hips with an annoyed look.

"Come on Jazzi...don't take it personal. It's just we've fought together and know how to work together already. You'd just get in the way." Cloud headed towards the mansion, leaving Jazzi to complain to herself.

The frustrated young woman kicked a rock across the dirt and headed for the Strife home for some much needed rest. "Cloud is so full of himself...stupid little bastard." Jazzi mumbled as she entered the house.

Cloud was the last to enter the mansion, and was pleased to see everyone there. "Thanks everyone...I'm pretty confident we will defeat him again... maybe not today, at this stand, but we will not stop, like last time."

"Okay Cloud, we know the idea...to ambush him here, but Red mentioned that Jazzi is here...why don't you get her to help? Any extra help is a good thing." Cid spoke with the cigarette dangling from his lips as usual.

Suddenly the others began to agree, and Red gave the best smile that could show on his cat-like face. "Maybe you should go get her, we'll get into our positions."

Cloud made a noise like a disgruntled chocobo then nodded. "Whatever...I'll be right back." He left the mansion with some haste, he wanted to be in position and ready long before Sephiroth was around. He found his little sister asleep on their mother's bed. "Jazzi..." He walked up and pushed her leg over about a foot. "Get up Jazzi."

With her eyes still closed she spoke in an annoyed tone. "What do you want now!"

"The group decided that I should have you help out, since one more extra fighter on our side is better than none." Cloud didn't look at her as he spoke, not happy with having to ask her help after being rude.

Jazzi's attitude quickly got better as she sat up rather fast with a smile and peppy tone. "Really now? So you need my help after all?"

Cloud shrugged a bit with a very low volume in his reply. "Yes."

"Well...okay then!" The young redhead jumped to her feet and patted Cloud on the back lovingly. "Let's go then bro." Jazzi beat him out the door as she headed to the mansion.

Cloud couldn't help but laugh a bit at his sister with her eagerness that she has always had, even in bleak times such as these. "Right behind you."

Jazzi joined the group in the mansion, followed by her brother. "Okay Cloud, so what's the plan and where do you want me?" Jazzi smiled at him with her hands on her hips.

"Well we are going to hide in wait, and make an ambush against him. You can be positioned behind the stairwell, so if for any reason he gets by us, you can finish him off. Though I doubt he'll get passed us." Cloud motioned everyone into their positions as he himself moved into his spot beside the doorway.

Tifa stood up in the second story of the Nibelheim Inn, staring out the window. After an endless amount of time to her passed she was about to lie down and just relax when a shadow formed on the ground. Soon that shadow turned into a man as he hovered slowly to the ground. It was indeed Sephiroth, and he headed right into the mansion like Cloud had planned. "Good luck Cloud." Tifa whispered softly as her eyes followed the dark figure as he entered the large doors.

Everyone inside the mansion was bored and tired. Cid was laying down smoking, and Barrett was leaning against the wall messing with his gun. Even Jazzi had relaxed a bit behind the stairs, although the other three were alert still. Red was the first to stand in fighting stance as he whispered as low as he could. "He's coming."

Only Cloud, Vincent, and Jazzi heard Red's warning just as the front doors opened up slowly. The rusty hinges let Barrett and Cid know that company had arrived. Sephiroth closed the doors behind him and began to walk towards the stairs. When he had reached the rug in the middle of the floor, Cloud stepped out in front of the doorway.

Sephiroth immediately stopped and gave a small evil grin, not bothering to turn and face Cloud. "Do you ever grow tired of fighting me?"

"No, I find pleasure in it." Cloud retorted back at the darkly dressed man.

"Good, that makes it more fun for me." Sephiroth slowly turned to Cloud, still grinning. "Well old friend... might as well call out your friends. I'm not dumb to have not noticed the burning cigarette."

Cid spat out his butt of a cigarette, and came out of hiding, as did everyone else but Jazzi.

"Well Cloud... I assume you are in front of the door because you've hidden the woman I'm searching for out there...or did you hide the wrong one?"

Cloud gave him a quick glimpse of confusion. "Of course I've chosen the right woman. Only one matters that much to me since you murdered Aeris!"

A large smirk appeared on Sephiroth's face. "Just as I thought...you hid the wrong woman. Personally if I was your sister that statement would have hurt my feelings." Cloud's eyes went wide, while everyone else glanced to the stairwell by reaction. "Jazzi! Why would you be after Jazzi! She hasn't been a part of any of this!"

"Oh but she has Cloud. She has made one of the biggest moves in this game. Isn't that right Jazzi?" Sephiroth turned around to the staircase.

Slowly the young woman came out from behind the shadows, half afraid the man before her would slice her throat like he had promise.

"Ah, hello Jazzi. You remember my promise?"

She slowly nodded, her eyes stared up into his with fear and hope. "Yes, I do. Is that why you came here?"

"Yes, you could say that." He began to walk a little closer to the spirited red head.

"Sephiroth stop! I want to know what's going on right now!" Cloud stepped over to the two, glaring at both of them.

"I helped out Sephiroth some..."

"Like how?" Cloud's head turned to his sister as his glare hardened.

"Well...I..." Sephiroth interrupted her with a hand placed softly over her mouth. Her body jolted slightly with surprise by the feel of his touch, but a second later she was soothed by it and let him do the talking. "Well Cloud, it went somewhat like this...Jazzi marched all the way to the crater, fell on my masamune, found me, and is the sole reason I am alive, in front of you now."

Jazzi's eyes got wider than Cloud's, knowing she was in deep shit. Everyone else in the room besides Sephiroth just stared at Jazzi in disbelieve.

"What!" Cloud went to attack his sister in a rush of furry, but was grabbed by Sephiroth.

"Hey if you want to fight...fight with me. Don't lower yourself to beating up women." Sephiroth smirked down at Cloud as he slowly let go of Cloud's arm.

Jazzi watched Sephiroth stop Cloud's assault upon her with astonishment. If he was here to kill her, then why would he save her from getting hit? He must be here to take her away with him. Her face grew into a giddy little girl's smile.

Cloud glared back over to Sephiroth. "What DO you want with my sister anyways, Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth smirked slightly as he glanced over at the woman close to him. She was smiling at him, with a smile that made her look so innocent and beautiful. Sephiroth quickly looked back to Cloud. "Well, a while ago I was still debating whether to kill her or steal her, but now I am certain of what I should do."

Red tensed up, moving closer to Jazzi so he might be able to stop an attack from Sephiroth against her.

"I am taking your sister with me Cloud, but even I won't take a woman against her will." Both the men looked to the emerald-eyed lady.

Her smile faded quickly in a look or surprise. "Umm...well...I..."

"Jazzi, what is there to think about! You're staying with me...we have a lot to talk about!" Cloud somewhat shouted out the command at her in a wave of panic. He wasn't going to let Sephiroth win this fight...one way or another. "He's evil, and if you choose to go...we will have to stop you."

Jazzi looked over at Sephiroth, who was already staring at her...awaiting an answer from her. Without saying a word, she closes her eyes and looks down to the floor. After about a minute Jazzi cleared her throat to speak, but did not bother to look up at anyone. "I... I can't go with you Sephiroth. I'm sorry, but I can't betray my brother like that." Jazzi slowly backed away from the longhaired man with a quick glimpse towards him to go with a small smile that was so discrete that only he caught it.

"So Sephiroth, what are you going to do now... now that you have no one to help you out? Think you can still beat all of us by yourself... and maybe win this time?" Cloud smirked at his opponent.

Sephiroth held out his hand towards the high-spirited woman. "Come with me Jazzi... I will share my success... my power with you. I know you want to Jazzi."

She closed her eyes with a small sigh. "I'm sorry Sephiroth but I can't. Family comes before my wants, like going on an adventure...even when that adventure is with you."

"I see..." Sephiroth's eyes hardened into a glare of hatred... one Jazzi had seen before in him. When he destroyed Nibelheim all those years ago. She was only sixteen when that had happened, but she remembered it vividly. He had just slaughtered the man in front of her, then marched right towards her. Only he didn't harm her... instead he smiled at her, reached up with his blood-covered hand, and he slowly and softly stroked her cheek.

Suddenly her thought was broken when she was pushed into a wall. Sephiroth had done it, and he was now slicing the air with his masamune towards Cloud's throat. His sword just barely misses because Red pounced on Cloud, sending him backwards and away from the sword's path.

Barrett began to open fire upon Sephiroth, but the cunning villain ricocheted the bullets using his masamune with great speed. Cid charged with his spear, as Vincent also began to lay bullets down upon Sephiroth. It was an uneven battle, which tested Sephiroth's skill to the max. He managed to fight off Cid, block some bullets, but not even Superman could have stopped them all. Sephiroth received four painful shots to the midsection and shoulder. Cloud and Red were now jumping into the fight. Sephiroth wouldn't give up he kept fighting back all the attackers. Vincent and Barrett stopped their assault, and just watched Sephiroth continue to fight off the cat, Cloud's sword, and Cid's spear with four puncture wounds that were bleeding pretty good.

Jazzi watched in shock...she knew Sephiroth was not fully recovered yet... not at his full strength, but yet he still came here... for her. He took a huge risk to come and get her, and now he's paying for it. "No!" Jazzi rushed into the circle of fighting, and immediately kicked back Cid's spear with such force he was knocked back into Barrett. Sephiroth didn't stop to look at his ally, instead he blocked Cloud's attack with his masamune and used a mighty force, pushing Cloud back into the wall. Jazzi jumped in front of Red's pounce and let him knock her over. He didn't use his claws, not wanting to hurt her. "Red stop now, please."

Sephiroth was gone before she could look back at him. He must of flown upstairs, ready to leave and heal up. Jazzi hoped he would be okay after taking the shots, but she wasn't too worried, knowing he would soon he strong enough to heal himself. Her worries right now laid on her brother and everyone else. She was in deep trouble with everyone... maybe even Sephiroth.

Surprisingly, Cloud was not the first to speak up. "What the hell was that!" It was Vincent, he marched up to Jazzi and hit her so hard across the face she stumbled back into the stair railing. "You stupid bitch! We had him, it would have been all over... but NO! You had to butt in and help him out. I don't care if you are Cloud's sister... I think you should be put to death with that maniac!"

Cloud grabbed Vincent's shoulder. "Hey Vince...calm down. She deserved the slap, but not to be killed. Let's just take her with us so we can keep an eye on her. We'll just make sure she can't be involved in anymore of our fighting. That way she can't interfere." Cloud turned to his sister and gave her a glare. "I knew you had a crush on the man when you first met him, but I figured seeing him murder everyone we knew would change your mind! Don't say anything Jazzi, I don't want to hear it... I'm going to go get Tifa. I think we should go get Yuffie in Wutai first, then go after Sephiroth." Cloud left the mansion to get Tifa.


	3. Wutai Visit

Chapter 3: Wutai Visit

Up above the citizens' heads, stood Sephiroth with a glare that could kill as he watched Cloud walked into the hotel in a hurry. The villain stood, holding onto his wounds, as he breathed with a slight raspy sounds coming from within his throat. He was injured, but not out of the game; soon he would heal and fully regenerated. Only then could he take on Cloud's gang of goody good fighters all at once again. His eyes moved across the small town, and over at the mansion's two large front doors. Once they rested upon that sight, they did not move...they just stared, waiting for something.

Inside the mansion, shouting and arguing could be heard loud and clear... all too clear for one young woman. "SHUT UP!" Jazzi stood up from her sitting spot on the stairs in an outrage. "I know already! Fucking screaming won't change it now... now will it!" The redhead didn't give any time for anyone to reply to her outburst. Instead she got up and stormed out of the mansion, pushing Vincent to the side as she bolted through the doors. Once she was outside, she looked straight up into the air and took in a giant gulp of fresh air. Then she let it out in a minute's period of time. All the while she had her eyes closed, just using her other senses to take in the smell and breeze around her. She smiled as the air moved her hair away from her face, feeling at peace in the nature around her. The serenity of her mood was broken when she heard her brother's voice erupt through the air's movements.

"Jazzi! Stop acting like a retard, and get the others... we're leaving to get Yuffie, NOW!" Cloud grabbed his sister's arm, to make her open her eyes, but her reaction was a bit different from what he wanted.

She said no words in warning, she just simply grabbed his arm with her free hand, and with a spin of her wrist she flipped her brother off of her arm, and onto his back. After hearing the satisfying 'thud', she opened her eyes to see Cloud holding his chest. Jazzi shook her head and smirked as she looked up at his companion, Tifa. "You want a turn too?"

Tifa didn't speak, just glared as Jazzi went back into the mansion. The brunette slowly bent down by Cloud's side and shook her head in disapproval. "Are you okay Cloud?"

He didn't speak at first, instead he made quick noises as he tried to gasp in air. Once he finally got back to normal he sighed a bit. "Yeah...I'm okay. She just caught me off guard quite a bit there. She has never had to use her talent, but I really believe she could out fight me... but more importantly, Sephiroth." He stood up, back on his own two feet again with the slight help of Tifa's hand.

All the while, the dark figure still casted down his shadow among the scene and smirked at Cloud as he had to be assisted to get up. As he watched the fiery woman walk off, he spoke in a low whispered voice. "Yes my sweet fighter... keep that spirit going. Yours is a spirit that cannot be broken. With determination you could excel everyone's expectations... even your own. Though you could never out do my hopes for you, because I know what you are capable of, just from the energy that radiates from your spirit. Yes, now I am convinced you are worth my troubles. You will be the key to my victory, little sweet warrior of mine."

Soon Jazzi walked back into her stalker's view, being followed by everyone who was in the mansion. "Ok Cloud we can go now. Although I don't know what the big rush is about."

"Shut up, Jazzi. I've had enough of your mouth for today already, and it's only a little past one." Cloud straightened his shirt a bit then began to speak to everyone else. "We'll spend the night in Wutai. It'll give Yuffie some time to get ready, and give us some rest. Well let's go guys. Is the airship ready to go, Cid?"

Cid's reply was a simple nod as he puffed out a small billow of smoke into the air between them.

"Good, then lets hurry up. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can maybe relax a bit."

Everyone calmly walked out of town, towards the large airship that Jazzi knew as 'Lady Luck'. No one was speaking, and even though Jazzi's eyes were looking down, she knew all eyes were staring upon her. Maybe in disgust or hatred, but whatever look they were, it left an icy feeling on her spine that soon made her shiver. She didn't know it, but Sephiroth still watched her from a far with not a look of disappointment, but a look of satisfaction.

"I will see you soon, Jazzi." With those whispered words, he flew off to the northwest at a mild speed so he would not waste his energy. Even at that pace, he would have no problem reaching the village before the group.

Once the airship took to the skies, Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, and Vincent went into the meeting room to have a discussion while Red and Cid watched Jazzi.

"She's already proven that she can not be trusted with anything." Barrett was the first to speak out against the young Strife. "She's a moron! She has no idea what kind of monster he is!"

"Jazzi has always taken care of herself and no body else. Why should we have to go through so much trouble for her?" Tifa spoke as she looked over at Cloud.

"Yes, I know. She's more trouble than she's worth, especially now. The problem is what do we do about it?" Cloud's eyes looked at each of the three in the room and stopped on Vincent. "What do you have to say Vince?"

The dark man unfolded his arms and stood up straight from leaning on the wall. "Well, she has some balls... even though she should be shot. I say we keep her around. If we have to fight anything other than Sephiroth, I believe she will definitely help kick some ass because she enjoys battle."

"No, lets give her to Shinra. Scarlet and Palmer would be happy to take care of her for us."

"No, Barrett! Vincent is right... Jazzi will be a great advantage in any fights we may find ourselves in." Cloud was now looking down at the glossy tabletop. "If she brings any unnecessary danger to any of us, we will have to do something else with her. Until then... she will remain with us, under watch."

It took a few minutes, but all in the room nodded slowly. "Okay, lets get in the cockpit with the others. We should be at Wutai soon."

Jazzi was leaning against the railing as she watched the sea go by below. "Red...do you think I'm stupid, now?"

The large feline lifted its head off of his front paws to look at her. "No, Jazzi...you're a very smart human, and you're also very talented. You simply saw a different path to take than most people. You were destined to go that way. I will always be your friend, Jazzi. I just hope your path doesn't bring you in harm's way."

A small smile spread across her face as she switched her gaze onto her furry friend. "Thanks Red, I knew if anyone would still be there for me... it would be you." Before the two could continue their conversation any further, the four others walked into the cockpit area, which made Jazzi immediately go back to gazing at the water. She didn't want to look or speak to them. They didn't understand or care to understand her.

"We should be coming up on Wutai in just a few minutes, I can see it in the horizon." Cid smiled as he bit down on the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

"Great... thanks Cid." Vincent leaned back against the ship's wall as the speed began to slow down.

Everyone was silent during the rest of the flight. As soon as 'Lady Luck' landed outside of Wutai, the passengers left to exit the plane. "Alright everyone, lets go find Yuffie." Cloud began to lead the way, but stopped as Jazzi began to talk.

"I'm going to go walking on my own. There are a few people I want to see before dark."

Cloud gave her a suspicious look as he began to talk. "No... you might go running off."

"For god's sake Cloud! I just want to visit some friends, chill out already!" She walked right past her brother, bumping into his shoulder on her way by. She didn't stop until she got into the village and turned around a building's corner, out of sight. She was about to walk off when she began to hear the sound of talking... children. Jazzi walked forward until she could see behind another corner, and there she saw three rather plump boys... picking upon one skinny, smaller boy. Her eyes glared at those fat little bullies as they pushed the boy to the ground and began laughing. Without a second thought she walked up behind the boys, her eyes a blaze of lightning as she spoke. "What do you think you brats are doing!"

The three boys turned around and their eyes went wide at the sight of her eyes. "Oh... oh, we were um..."

"Just as I thought..." Jazzi bent down to look each of them at eye level. "Get out of here!" Her eyes flashed more violently as she spoke the last words.

The three bullies didn't take anytime to think about her order, instead they fled all around the corner screaming out for their mommies or just for help. Jazzi smiled and giggled a bit, and at the same time her eyes faded. After a moment she turned to look back at the boy, who was still crumbled up on the ground. "Hey... are you okay little guy?" She bent down and placed her hand on his shoulder.

He flinched a bit, but looked up at her slowly. "Who...who are you lady?"

Jazzi smiled brightly at the boy. "My name's Jazzi Strife... what's your name?"

The boy sat up and then smiled back as well. "Wow... are you related to Cloud Strife? He's my hero... oh I'm sorry. My name's Radian Motley."

"Oh... well yes, Cloud is my older brother. Radian...why were those boys picking on you?" Jazzi's smile was no longer as big, annoyed by Cloud's hero position.

"They always pick on me... I'm smaller than they are, and I can't fight."

"Well... hey you want a lesson so you can learn a very easy move that will keep them off your back for ever?"

"Can you really teach me something like that!" The little boy was jumping with excitement.

Jazzi let out a small laugh as she nodded. "You bet, now just watch carefully. First I need you to go and punch at me in slow motion. I promise I won't hurt you."

Radian calmed down a bit and balled up his tiny hand into a fist. Then he slowly moved it toward Jazzi. She placed her hand over his fist, grabbing it firmly. "Now watch how I turn my wrist." The instructor slowly turned her wrist to the right, making the boys arm turn as well.

"Wow! Can I try!" The enthusiastic boy watched his arm being gently twisted the wrong way.

"Sure, go right ahead... here I go." Jazzi slowly threw a punch to the boy, trying to make the smallest fist possible so he could grab it. When he did; he slowly but firmly turned Jazzi's arm to his right.

"Whoa calm down killer. You don't want to break you teacher's arm." Jazzi laughed a bit as he let go. "You definitely got it down... good job."

Radian smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you very much Miss Jazzi. I'm going to go home and show my dad!" With that said, Radian dashed off home, ready to make his dad proud. Jazzi just watched him go with a small, satisfied smile.

"That was very sweet... I didn't know you liked children."

Jazzi spun around to see Sephiroth standing there. She let out a sigh before speaking. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be recovering."

"No, I'm here for you. Come, let's go."

Jazzi shook her head. "No, not now... I will leave with you as soon as they all fall asleep. That way we will have some time before they notice I'm gone, and come after us."

"I can't wait... I have another... associate waiting, and I can't keep him waiting."

Jazzi shrugged, "Well then go... I will meet you there once they're asleep. Where will you be at?"

"Shinra headquarters, or what's left of it. How will you get there?"

"Oh I have my ways." Jazzi smirked at him. "You better leave before anyone sees you, cause then I'll never get away."

"Very well... I will expect to see you there before dawn. If you're not there... we will continue on our way. We can't wait for our plans, not even for you. I'm sorry Jazzi... but we have a tight schedule for tomorrow." Sephiroth took her hand in his, then slowly moved it to his mouth, kissing the back of her hand softly. "See you tonight." With that, he jumped into the air and flew off, out of sight.

Jazzi blinked in disbelieve as she stared at her hand. Did that just happen? Her mind kept replaying the moment until she was positive it DID happen.

Sephiroth smirked with satisfaction at himself as he flew at high speeds to the east. "She's within my grasp now... all I have to do is wrap my fingers around her." He chuckled with an evil smirk in his eyes.

Upon Jazzi's face was a smile as well, but hers was a purer smile. It was true to her feelings... her feeling of love for that man. After a few moments of thought and looking at her hand with that same sweet smile, she came back to reality. "Well... I guess I better see what's going on with Cloud and the gang."

"I can't believe he's back already. I just arrived home, and now you want me to leave again... and risk my life all over again. I'm sorry Cloud, but I can't leave my home so soon. I have duties here now, and I won't abandon them." Yuffie stood there in her living room of her home, standing in front of everyone.

"Yuffie... we need you." Tifa walked up beside her and gave her a grave look. "How can you say no to saving the world?"

"Easy... I think of everyone else in this village besides me. I have a place again... I'm sorry but I'm not going. Nothing you'll say will ever change my mind." Yuffie's face had a grim look as she spoke. "I'm sorry everyone. You're all welcomed to stay, but I won't be leaving with you."

"Okay Yuffie... you don't have to... we understand. It's not a situation that any of us would like to be in either. Thank you for letting us stay here, but I will have to leave for a moment. I have to make sure Ja..."

As he was speaking, he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and there stood Jazzi. "Well hey there everyone... Yuffie you mind if I come in?"

"Not at all Jazzi." The young thief smiled at her. "Always glad to see you, Jazzi. How have you been?"

"Oh I can't complain... I just ran into a little boy named Radian. Do you know him?" Jazzi walked into the room and sat down on a large pillow that was sitting on the floor.

Yuffie nodded. "Oh yeah, I know him. The poor little guy gets picked on all the time."

"Well he shouldn't anymore. I just taught him a self defense move that should scare those three chunky boys enough to leave him alone for awhile... if not forever." Jazzi smiled, feeling good about helping the little boy.

"Really? That's really awesome. That poor kid deserved something better then being harassed everyday." Yuffie smiled a bit at the thought. "I'd like to see him out do those bullies, but anyways. I want you to know ,Jazzi, that I won't be joining you on this adventure. I'm busy here right now."

"I totally understand. I don't want to be here either right now, but hey we all can't choose where we get to be." Jazzi spoke in a normal tone like her words met nothing just then. "Well I am going to say hello to your father Yuffie. I would like to see him again, very much." Jazzi stood up, but before leaving she bowed to Yuffie. Then she bowed back to Jassi, letting her leave without another word.

"What was that about?" Yuffie gave a puzzled look towards Cloud. "Is your sister okay?"

Cloud sighed and the entire group pitched in on the story on what Jazzi had been up to, and what Sephiroth had in mind for her.

Jazzi walked off towards the tower that overlooked all of Wutai. She knew her martial arts master would be waiting for her arrival, at the top of that tower. Jazzi didn't mind the climb up the stairs, in fact she found it soothing. It gave her time to think of what to talk about to her teacher during this visit, and how to word the events that had happened. Before she knew it, she was at the top floor and standing before her master. He was sitting on a giant pillow that rested on the wooden floor.

"Hello again Jazzi... it has been quite some time since you have come here. What has kept you away..., and what's troubling you? Your mind is wandering." He motioned his one hand for Jazzi to sit down as well.

"Yes... I have had many things to think about lately. A decision I have to make... it could change my life, no everyone's life." As she spoke, she slowly let herself sit down on the maroon pillow.

"So you've come for my advice? Then you must open up to me Jazzi." He grew silent for a bit, until he began speaking again. "Lets mediate Jazzi, free up our minds, and mind link. I can answer your questions best after that."

She breathed in deeply, and nodded to her master. "Very well... lets meditate." She closed her eyes and interlocked her hands in her lap so her arms could relax. After a view moments her mind traveled at a radical speed, everything around was a blur as she traveled by. When she came to a stop, she was at the crater, standing over the bloodstain she had left. The view moved from the stain to a few feet to her right, where Sephiroth had laid in his mako incasing. Jazzi knew, everything her mind was showing to her... her master was also viewing. In another instant she was off again, with everything a blur. This trip took longer that made Jazzi feel disoriented, and nauseated. When she felt like she couldn't take anymore, the trip suddenly stopped again. There, she was back at the crater, but this time it was collapsed again, and she was standing deep down in its core. She looked down to see a bloody dagger, her own, in her hand. She had such a tight grip on the weapon, her knuckles were white. Then she noticed, on the ground, beside her, was Sephiroth. He had been stabbed in the heart, and Cloud and his company were all staring at her in a look of shock. Jazzi was so shocked by this sight, she lost all concentration, and her meditation had ended.

"Oh my god..." She spoke at a quiet, whispered voice, as her eyes looked at the floor with shock. "That couldn't of been real."

"It was Jazzi... it was your future, but is it the future for you if you choose to go with Cloud or Sephiroth? This is still the decision you will have to make. The only advice I can give you in this matter is... follow your heart Jazzi. It's what all martial arts experts must learn to listen to at all times." The old man bowed his head slowly, a sign that she was dismissed.

Jazzi slowly bowed back, and got up to her feet. "Thank you master... I will see you again, before this is all over." Jazzi turned away from the man, and she walked down the stairs. As she descended, her mind began wondering just as much as when she was going up the stairs. How could of that been her in that vision? She would never kill Sephiroth... or at least she didn't think so. The vision made the decision for her; if she would loose him in any way in the future, then she would spend as much time with him now as possible. Jazzi nodded with a small smile at her decision. She would leave as soon as everyone was asleep, and soundly asleep at that. She continued to wander around the village for a few more hours, until the sky started to turn into an array of oranges and yellows. By the time she reached Yuffie's house, the group had already laid down in the living room and the two spare bedrooms. Red was curled up on one of the pillows, while Vincent was on the couch. Tifa and Cloud were together in a spare room, while Barrett and Cid were in single beds in another room. As Jazzi walked a little further, she noticed Red was looking up at her, and he whispered to her.

"You can sleep on those pillows over there if you want Jazzi..." Red laid his head back down on his paws and closed his eyes.

Jazzi laid down on two pillows that were side by side. Her chances were riskier now that the two most observant members of the group were right beside the door. Now she had to creep to a back door, if there even was one. The biggest problem she soon realized, was that she was tired. The comfortable pillows made her realize just how much sleep she had been missing with her most recent antics. After an hour she was to the point of holding her eyes open with her fingers. Finally she had to risk getting up and leaving or she would never leave before one of the others woke up. She edged around the walls, knowing the boards there were less likely to squeak. She made her way out of the living room with little problem, but she saw no door leading outside from the hall... it was in one of the rooms. Jazzi had to determine it was one of the two back ones. She knew Yuffie would awake to the sound of her own bedroom door open, so she had to choose carefully. Jazzi reached the end of the hallway, and stood in-between the doors, looking back and forth. After a few moments, Jazzi's ears picked up on a doorknob turning behind her. She had to move NOW or get caught by Cid... Barrett... Tifa... or Cloud. It didn't matter who it was, the outcome would all end up the same. Frantically Jazzi grabbed the handle on her left, and walked through as quietly as possible, knowing the sound of the door behind her would cover the noise to them. She stood behind the door, listening to see if they noticed she was not in the living room, but all she ended hearing was the sound of a toilet being flushed and another door being shut. Jazzi's face was all smiles with relief, Jazzi slowly turned around to see Yuffie looking at her with an odd expression.

"What are you doing Jazzi?" Yuffie had one eyebrow raised at her friend's odd behavior.

Jazzi's face went blank, her face was probably as white as a ghost as she stared at Yuffie, dumb founded. "Well... I... um..." Then she had to just breath in deep and look Yuffie in the eyes. "I have to get out of here Yuffie. I'm sure they told you what I've done, and I just have to go..."

Yuffie stayed quiet for a moment, keeping Jazzi in suspense as she looked right back into Jazzi's eyes. After about two minutes of staring down each other, and Jazzi not breathing the whole time; Yuffie finally spoke up. "Go... get out of here before someone else hears you."

Jazzi blinked a bit, then finally sucked in some air into her lungs. "Are you serious?"

Yuffie nodded as she began talking again. "Yes, now go on and get out of here, but just to let you know... the next time we see each other, Jazzi; I won't get to treat you like a friend. You'll be my enemy then, and you should think of me as the same."

Jazzi nodded, then bowed slowly to Yuffie in thanks just before she went out of the room and into the next. There was the back, sliding, door that she had been anticipating for a while. She dashed out the door with hardly a sound, and then she ran through the night. She was one with the shadows, using them to her advantage. Soon she was out of town, and the moonlight shone on her like a spotlight, but she didn't care. No one was around to see her, or hear her. She ran, letting the wind blow her hair away from her face, until she reached the shoreline that faced southeast. As she stood there, watching the small waves crash around her ankles the air grew very still so the waves soon turned into nothing. After a moment of pure silence and motionlessness, Jazzi suddenly leaped into the air, landing into the water, but the moment her feet touched the top of that water; she was off like a lightning bolt. The water sprayed into the air at least five feet on each side of her as she bolted on top of the water. At that moment, Jazzi felt as free as the birds soaring above her. The night sky, the cool water spraying in her face, and the knowledge that she would be by Sephiroth's side once again soothed her into a moment of pure relaxation; even as she was moving at speeds up to 900 miles an hour.


	4. Deadly Trio

Chapter 4: Deadly Trio

"We can't wait here all night, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth turned his mako green eyes towards his partner. "Yes, I know that. Be patient, she will come soon; of that I am sure." The calm criminal leaned against the white wall of Shinra Headquarters' tenth level, completely healed.

"Why are we waiting around for her anyways? What makes her helpful to our plans?"

Sephiroth smiled at no one, but just at his own thoughts in his head. "You will see in all due time."

Meanwhile, Jazzi was still zooming among the water's spray that was flying into the air on either side of her... although now she was running out of energy. It took a lot out of her to run at such speeds. She could see Midgar coming closer, but the rate of her movement was decreasing. If it were to get any slower, she feared she wouldn't be able to travel above the water any longer. The water on each side of her began to fall slowly back into the water. Jazzi was suddenly weighed down by a feeling of exhaustion, and she fell into the salty, cold blackness below. Jazzi swam up through the colorless void until she erupted out of the surface, gasping in the air. Once she had calmed down, she noticed she could now see Midgar's lights from where she was wading among the lifeless waves, but she still had to find the energy within herself to swim that distance. Jazzi had little belief that she could actually swim the whole distance, but she also knew she had to try. Slowly the young woman began to swim her way to shore. As an hour goes by, she's a little over half the way there. Jazzi was exhausted and felt like she could not go any further. All she could manage to do was bob there in the water. After a few minutes wading on the ocean's surface, Jazzi knew she would only make it there if she tried to run again. "Please, I ask the wind to be my friend and aid me on this night." Jazzi closed her eyes until she was chilled by high winds that now blew towards Midgar. With a thankful smile, Jazzi took the last bits of energy left inside of her and leaped out of the water, into the air. The wind moved her forward some, but Jazzi still had to use the rest of her strength to blast off. In a matter of seconds, she was on shore and rising into the air, so she could scale Midgar and its headquarters. Only moments later, Jazzi was running up the side of Shinra's building. As she passed the tenth floor, she saw two figures in a blur as she sped by. As soon as her impulses could act, she leaned forward, and busted through the twelve-floor window. Glass went flying all over the floor, and on Jazzi as she rolled and tumbled straight into the metal door. After that she went no further... the impact knocked her out cold, and the glass cut her up bad in a couple places.

Sephiroth and his company both stood up at attention at the sight of a blur of motion fly up the side of the building. "What the hell was that!" Sephiroth's partner in crime only had time to ask before the sound of glass being shattered was heard. This sound was quickly followed by a faint scream, a large thud, and a crash. "Is that who we've been waiting for?"

Sephiroth shook his head slowly side by side with a small smirk upon his face. "I believe it is... lets go take a look little brother."

They both went up the staircase, until the reached the closed metal door. Sephiroth had to put some effort into opening the door, because Jazzi's limp body was blocking it. Once he got it open, they both stared down at the beaten, unconscious body.

"Whoa, you sure this is her? She doesn't look very powerful to me." The younger of the two squatted down beside her body, and checked for a pulse. "Well she's still alive. So is this her, Sephiroth?"

His mako eyes stared down at the young woman in disappointment. "Yes this is her. Her name is Jazzi Strife, Cloud's sister. She has real hidden power, I know it. Despite what it looks like here, she is more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"Well okay Seph, if you say so. I'll believe what you say, but right now she doesn't look any stronger than a baby chocobo."

"Yes... well pick her up will you? We need to lay her down somewhere and cure her." Sephiroth turned away from the two and headed down the stairs.

"Yeah, sure thing brother..." The man sighed deeply as he slowly rolled the young woman over, and picked her up into his arms. As he started walking, he looked down at her face. She was beautiful, her face was untouched from her collision. She had radiant crimson hair, and creamy fair skin. Then as he kept looking at her, he noticed she had a great body as well, even if it was cut up at the moment.

"Hey hurry up, quit messing around up there...what ARE you doing anyways?"

"Nothing, just trying to not cut myself up as well..." He looked at Jazzi once more, and then headed down to where Sephiroth was. As he laid Jazzi down on a desk that was in the room where Sephiroth stood, he looked up at Sephiroth. "Now seriously, what powers does this girl have?"

"Once I get her healed, you can ask her for a full on demonstration. Then you'll see what she's capable of when provoked."

"You mean...fight her!"

"What, Saul are you afraid of the little girl?" Sephiroth smirked towards his little brother.

"No, but I don't want to knock your star fighter here out again." Saul smirked as Sephiroth used Cure 3 on the unconscious Jazzi.

Sephiroth finished casting Cure 3 then looked at Jazzi for a moment. "She'll be out for a few minutes still. You look over her, I'm going to go get some files from their storage."

"Yeah okay, no problem." Saul set down in the chair beside the desk where Jazzi laid as he watched his older brother walk up the stairwell. Saul quickly leaned back and got relaxed, while watching Jazzi.

Not even a minute after Saul had tipped back his chair, Jazzi started to blink her eyes open. Those emerald eyes began to look around, and she saw a man sitting right beside her. He looked quite a bit like Sephiroth, but she knew it was not he. This man had silver hair with some black streaks running through it, and his hair only went to the bottom of his earlobes. His face looked identical to Sephiroth's, same structure and eye color. He wore an outfit much like Sephiroth's, but this man's outfit didn't expose his chest... and it was all black. After looking at this new man in her presence, she began to sit up. "Hey...who are you?"

Saul's eyes widened at the sound of the woman's voice, and as he went to let his chair down back on the floor, he kicked off the desk and fell backwards onto the floor. As quickly as it took him to hit the ground, he bounced back up and grabbed the chair as he put it back up right. He smiled a bit and acted like nothing had happen. "Oh well hello there, glad to see you're okay. I'm Saul...and you're Jazzi, right?"

Jazzi nodded as she giggled at him a bit. "I take it you're the other partner of Sephiroth's. So who are you exactly... you look a lot like him."

"Oh, I'm his brother. I was born about twenty minutes after he was. No one knew, but our mother, Lucrecia, had twins. I hear you're Cloud's sister. Did you inherit his fighting skills?" Saul leaned one hand on the desk, as he looked at Jazzi. Now that she was healed, and moving he could tell just how radiant she was. Though if she wasn't a good fighter than he didn't want her around.

"Yeah... that's right. Cloud's my older brother... so I guess we have that in common; we're both younger siblings. As for my fighting skills, I think I am highly skilled. I would put myself above Cloud, considering I've beaten him on many occasions." Jazzi stood up from the desk, and stretched up into the air.

"Oh really... you're that good? What do you say we have ourselves a little friendly match?"

"Well I don't see why not. If you think you can take me..." Jazzi smirked at Saul with a raised eyebrow.

"Well do we get to use weapons?"

"Are you trying to kill me or something?"

"No, can't you take it?"

"Yeah I can take it..." Jazzi sprung into the air towards Saul. It was obvious the young man did not expect her to lung at him, because he made no attempt at blocking her move. Jazzi saw he was not ready and took her chance. Jazzi spun her legs around, and threw them around Saul's neck. He didn't have long to be shocked as she quickly got her hands on the ground, throwing him over her body with her legs. Saul landed with a thud as Jazzi stood back up on her own two feet. "So I thought you could take me?"

Saul got up after a few seconds, shaking his head from the impact with the ground. "Damn woman!"

Jazzi's eyes suddenly sparked some and narrowed into a glare. She hated to be called woman, she saw as degrading, rude, and sexist. She now had some inspiration to really give this man an ass whooping.

"What's wrong with you... your eyes are doing something weird."

Jazzi didn't answer, instead a sinister smile spread across her face. "If you think that was something... wait till you see this." Yellow light began to grow around both of her hands, her hair started to rise like a gust of wind was blowing it from beneath, and her eyes were now sparking so fiercely that it was illuminating the whole room in a yellow tint. "Lightning Jolt" Jazzi's voice was no longer her own, it was a mystical, haunting tone as yellow now covered her whole body.

Saul smiled a bit, as he quickly moved behind the massive support pillar. He had seen many limit breaks, his own were very deadly, and he had no doubt hers were as well. Whatever he had said or done, must of really pushed her button.

From the skies above a huge booming sound of thunder filled the air, a second, and a third. Before the fourth could be heard a giant bolt of lightning tore threw the Shinra Headquarters like a knife through butter. Sephiroth jumped back as the floor he was on had a giant hole ripped through it and tiny fires started throughout. He knew where the source of it came from, and he quickly headed down the stairs.

That lightning bolt continued it way down the levels until it struck Jazzi herself. The bolt didn't seem to have harmed her at all, instead she harnessed that bolt's energy and sent over twenty bolts of lightning fly across the room. They flew in every direction in a radial pattern around her. One went flying strait for Saul, and it was a massive bolt, maybe the largest out of them all. Saul watched all the others fly by him, and this made him look around the pillar to see the blinding yellow light coming towards him. Saul did a ground roll out of the way, but the pillar was hit. Not only was it hit, but also it was splintered into a million bits by the blow. The impact was so strong it sent a chain reaction all the way through the pillar. On floors above and below it started to shatter and break away.

Sephiroth opened the door to the tenth level, and dunked as a bolt went flying for his head. "What the hell are you two doing!"

Sephiroth's voice brought Jazzi out of her rage, and the lightning stopped. Her hair settled, and her eyes returned to normal beside a few small sparks of energy left within her. "Sephiroth... I... Saul challenged me to a match."

Saul walked up to the both of them. "Yeah like you told me to. She won."

Everyone grew silent as the building moved, sending a jolt through every level and made each of the fighters nearly fall to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Saul looked around a bit then at the other two. "Did you two feel that."

"Yes, you two have destroyed the support beam running through this building. We have to get out of here." Sephiroth grabbed Jazzi up into his arms as he looked at Saul. "Come on, let's get going!"

Sephiroth and Saul went flying out the window, which had already been shattered by Jazzi's lightning spectacular. Sephiroth had an outraged look on his face as he turned around to see the proud Shinra building fall to the ground behind them. He had not found the files he was looking for, and now he never would. The impact from the fall sent dust flying up thirty feet into the air. Many homes and other buildings were destroyed in the collision.

Sephiroth and Saul touched down besides the crumbled building's remains. Saul was shaking his head some, but with a smile on his face. On the other hand... Sephiroth did not have a smile of any kind as he firmly placed Jazzi on her feet. "Well Jazzi... great job, you have just probably single handedly murdered... oh I'd say fifty or more people with your little stunt in there. Bravo." Sephiroth patted the young woman on the back as she stared down at a piece of glass. Suddenly Sephiroth grabbed her and spun her around to face him. "But unfortunately in that building was special documents that I wanted to find... and you know what!"

Jazzi winced slightly, but it appeared clear in her mind, that this was his real side. He had not got her because of the feelings she had for him. No, it was for that power she had just witnessed for the first time. He knew she had that in her, and was now going to use her for it. Jazzi raised her head high and stared back into his eyes of fury. "What? Did you not find them? Well too fucking bad... get over it. You'll just have to improvise."

Saul watched the two with a blank expression, seeing which of the two might stand down first.

"Don't forget you're Cloud's sister still... and if you become a pain I will have no problem with slicing your pretty little throat." Sephiroth went to touch her neck, but she slapped his hand away.

"I know what you're doing... just because I have feelings for you doesn't make me stupid. If you push me, then I will push back. You choose the wrong woman to use, but now that I'm here... I'm not going anywhere. You and Saul are now stuck with me."

Sephiroth walked even closer to her, and got his face inches from hers. "Do you really think you can bluff your way around me?"

Jazzi raised one eyebrow at him and smirked. "Who said I was bluffing?"

"I do... you don't have the guts to actually take me on, now do you?" Sephiroth pushed Jazzi back into a large slab of concrete off of the building.

Jazzi got back up, and walked over to Sephiroth; with both hands and a scream of force she pushed him as hard as she could, knocking him back into a house. "Yes... I have never feared a single man or beast, and just because you're a new breed of beast doesn't mean you're an exception. Now that I know how you really feel about me... don't expect me to be at your beck and call. I am here because this is the real me... I'm not a goodie like my brother, being with this group is my destiny." Jazzi glared at Sephiroth for a moment then gave him a look of sadness. "But it's obviously not my destiny to be the one by your side." The young woman walked between Saul and Sephiroth but stopped. "Sephiroth... if you didn't find the file you were after, then what file are you carrying?"

Sephiroth turned his mako eyes to Jazzi, and pulled out a file packet from within his jacket. "I found a thick folder all about you, dear Jazzi."

Jazzi was not affected by the word 'dear', but what he just had said made no sense to her. "That can't be... I've never had any encounters with Shinra. There's no way they could have a huge file on me."

"Oh but they do Jazzi... here take it. I was going to give it to you anyways. I figured you'd be very interested in those pages. I was quite shocked by what little I read. It seems you and I are more alike than we both thought." Sephiroth walked up to Jazzi and handed her the packet. "You'll have to wait and read that later though, I'm afraid because we have to leave. Saul has got a hold of some information. Apparently Scarlet and Palmer survived the Junon explosion, and are having a new group of their thugs called the Tyrants escort a special shipment to Gongaga. It should arrive by three o'clock tonight, and we are going to be there to intercept it."

Saul nodded with a smile. "We believe it's a new type of weapon that Shinra was making when they went belly up."

"Well it's past two now... we better get going." Jazzi handed back the file that supposedly held information on her. "Hold this for me until after tonight."

"Very well." Sephiroth took back the file folder and placed it in his jacket. The look he now saw in Jazzi's emerald eyes was heart breaking... even to him. The fact he felt pity for her made him angry, and yet... she was so innocent inside, and he knew it. Now because of him she was turning over a new leaf, and breaking that innocence. Even though she knew...he was just using her for that power she had within.

"Sephiroth... come on, grab Jazzi and lets go. We need to get to that cargo before it arrives at Gongaga."

"I know. Okay, let's go you two." Sephiroth walked over to Jazzi as Saul took to the air. "Well let's go Jazzi."

Jazzi nodded with out word, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kept her face pointed to the ground. Being in his arms made her so sad inside, knowing he would never embrace her there like she meant everything to him.

As he picked her up in his arms, he flew up after Saul in a hurried pace to get by his little brother's side. "Now there's going to be quite a few Tyrants guarding this thing I'm sure. Both of you will have to be at the top of your game."

Jazzi tightened her grip around his neck and sighed heavily. "After this battle I need to sleep some."

Sephiroth looked down at the young woman in his arms, and nodded slowly. "I'm sure some rest would do us all some good." Sephiroth personally did not need any rest, but was in no big rush to complete his plans. He also didn't know if Saul needed rest or not since he only met him yesterday. He now had a brother... family that would stand by his side. All of this was a new experience for him. Some one loved him... his mind told him that wasn't true. How could anyone love him after all the hideous things he had done... and would still do.

"Gongaga is up ahead, which direction do you think they'll be coming from? I can't see anything from here, it's too dark." Saul turned his head over to Sephiroth and Jazzi.

"I can help with that, it's my specialty." Jazzi smirked at Saul then closed her eyes in concentration. After a moment the air grew still and silent as the grave. There was no wind to even let them know they were still moving. "Get closer Saul, I don't want you struck on accident." Just as he began moving closer the sky exploded with lightning. Thunder and raindrops followed the violent strike. Jazzi opened her eyes and looked down on the ground below. "There...at two o'clock."

Sephiroth and Saul looked down and to the northeast a bit to see a group of maybe ten men, and four of them were carrying a large wooden crate. "Good work Jazzi."

"Thanks Saul." It didn't surprise her that Sephiroth didn't join in on the praise. He probably wouldn't be nice to her for a long while since she stood up to him, and, sure enough, without a word spoken he began a nosedive towards the group of men below. About half way down he did speak to her, but it was a command. "Give them a welcoming jolt."

Jazzi saw this as an opportunity to show of for the all mighty Sephiroth. She launched herself out of his arms and to his side on the left. She began to plummet to the grass field below. Her hands went together and pointed at the three men in the front of the Tyrant's group. From within her hands, exploded a rapid fire of lightning bolts. They flew down quicker and thicker than the raindrops around them. Before the three targeted men could even look up, they were pushed down by the severe weight and force of the lightning bearing down upon them. Their scream quickly faded, as the other Tyrant members could smell their singed corpses.

Now the seven remaining Tyrants were looking up in the air. Some were looking at Sephiroth, some at Saul, and the rest were watching Jazzi. The four Tyrants carrying the crate carefully put it down and stood around it like nurturing mothers protecting their precious children. Their efforts would soon be futile, for the trio were closing in on their prey. The first one to land was Saul on the northwest side of the group. Sephiroth landed to the northeast, but nothing would of prepared the Tyrant's for Jazzi's landing. The force of the lightning attack had slowed her down to a safe speed. She landed on both feet, in a slight kneel, her head was facing down. Under her feet there came the stomach turning sounds of human bones being crushed and broken. For Jazzi had landed right on the fallen Tyrants she had just fried. Slowly she applied more pressure to stand up straight, causing more crunching sounds to come from the corpses. The last thing she did was lift her head up to be seen so the seven remaining men could look into her flickering eyes, but probably the most frightening thing was the smirk of pure pleasure from the sounds of those broken men under her boots. The pale light radiating from her eyes made her look ghost white.

The Tyrants were surrounded... and they could already tell their chances of winning were slim to none. One man spoke to the rest. "If we die, we die fighting with honor." Though as he spoke, his voice cracked and squeaked from fright. The other members drew their guns and/or swords.

Saul and Jazzi charged into the group like spears and both jumped up on the crate. Without hesitation the gunfire and shimmering of moving blades begun. The two villains jumped away from each other and landed among the squirming Tyrants.

Sephiroth calmly stood by and watched his two partners take on the group alone. He hadn't even bothered to unsheathe his masamune.

Jazzi smiled at the four men around her with sparking eyes and mischievous grin. "So many little boys to choose from, so little time. Let me see...eenie...meenie...minie...moe." As she spoke out 'moe' two daggers flew forth from her hands and through the air like Gossamer. Jazzi almost giggled as she watched her daggers deliver their deadly aim upon two Tyrant's throats. Blood began to bubble from their wounds, stopping them from speaking their final words before death took them. The fiery woman turned her back to the men as they hit the ground, and stared at the other two. "Two down, two to go."

On the other side of the crate, Saul was fighting the remaining three who weren't attacking Jazzi. He didn't speak any words, but took action. He lifted up his long jacket, and pulled out two three-foot long swords, samurai styled. He, unlike Jazzi, did not play around with the men's lives. He began twirling and whirling around his lethal swords to intimidate them, and just as they began to watch in marvel, he made his move. Saul jumped up into the air about a foot and stretched out his arms as far as they'd go as he spun his blades about. Each of the men only had time to gasp before the blades spun towards them, decapitating the three, and sent their heads flying through the air. Saul calmly sheathed his blades, and looked over at Jazzi with a satanic smile, almost on her face. The beauty he saw in her only minutes ago, was gone... she was no longer sweet or innocent. All of that was long gone from her face; she was actually enjoying the kill.

Jazzi's hair was matted down from the raindrops dripping down her face and off the ends of her hair. Her footsteps were slow and soft, but that didn't stop them from making a squishing noise in the watery mud below. She came inches from the last to men before they found courage to attack the hellish-like woman. Her hands moved with trained speed, grabbing and blocking their attacks. As she grabbed one man's arm, she lifted up her right leg, and kicked him in the chest. At that moment she let go, letting him fly to the ground several feet away, now near Sephiroth. Though he still didn't move or look down at the Tyrant. Jazzi felt a punch to the gut, and turned to look at the remaining Tyrant with a glare. She had wasted enough time toying around, and it was now time for him to die. She promptly reached forward and took his skull firmly in one hand so her nails were digging into his skin. "Goodbye." Jazzi sent an electrical shock through her arm, and into the man's skull, causing instant death as his brain got fried from the electrical heat she produced. The man quickly fell to the sloppy wet ground the moment she let go. Her face smiled at a job well done and was about to speak when she heard a gun cock back right behind her head.

"Don't move one damn muscle...any of you, or this bitch gets it! Both you men, drop your weapons now!" Even with the cold night rain falling upon him, there was no doubt that he was sweating from nervousness. He hand as slightly shaking, Jazzi could feel it make her hair move slightly.

Sephiroth looked over at Saul and nodded, signaling him to place his weapons on the ground. Saul did as Sephiroth instructed, but the whole while his eyes fixated on Jazzi. In an instant he briefly saw that innocence he saw in her when he had her in his arms, unconscious. She was afraid at this man's authority over her, and that her life was anyone's hands but her own. Saul glared slightly and thought to himself 'don't worry Jazzi, I will make sure you don't die.' Since he was still bent down, placing his second sword on the ground, he looked about to see a now, deceased Tyrant's gun two feet from him. He wasted no time; he flipped forward into a ground roll, and grabbed the gun in mid spin. He quickly got right side up; took his aim and fired.

Jazzi heard the gunfire go off and flinched, only then to be thrown sideways, the man's arm that was wrapped around her throat forced her down. She landed on something sharp, and noticed she could feel something... she was alive. Jazzi opened her eyes, and threw his arm off of her. After a moment of looking around it didn't take long to figure it out. "Thanks Saul, I owe you one."

"You owe me like two now and I've only known you an hour. It's got to be some kind of a record." Saul spoke as he replaced his swords back into their sheaths behind his back.

Sephiroth already had his masamune back where it belonged, and walked up beside Jazzi. "Next time let's avoid the dramatics. Don't play around, this is business... not pleasure. Never get them confused, it'll get you into trouble. Good job never the less you two, we got what we came for." Sephiroth's eyes scanned over the wooden crate as he slowly approached it.

Saul and Jazzi both followed him, and soon they were all looking straight down upon the crate. Each just looked at it, Jazzi still didn't even know what was contained within the wooden beams, but she knew she would soon find out.

"Now Saul and I will escort the crate to the mansion... Jazzi you will have to run, we are southeast from Nibelheim. You can make an easy run over land to get there, and I'm sure you will beat us to the mansion. So, Jazzi, it is up to you to make sure no one is there or gets in. Be careful, I can't loose you already." Jazzi had no time to reply; Sephiroth grabbed the crate and flew off into the air, followed by Saul, which then grabbed one side of the crate to make flying easier for Sephiroth.

"Alone again...in the night, and I have to run again." Jazzi softly sighed, as she placed one hand on her forehead. "Well I doubt I'll have energy enough to even fight a rat after this." Jazzi closed her eyes and in the blink of an eye she was gone, only leaving a faint yellow trail behind. Which soon also faded away into the night.


	5. True Origin

Chapter 5: True Origin

Yuffie stood on her front porch with her arms folded across her chest. The chilly predawn air was blowing in from the southeast, where the sky appeared dark and stormy. In less than an hour the sun would peek over the horizon, and she would have to tell the group that Jazzi had run off. Now as the spirited ninja stared out at the horizon, she wondered if she had made the right decision. Something deep inside her told her she had, but she couldn't stop her doubt in her own judgment. No matter how guilty she may of felt, she was not going to tell anyone what she had done. She doubted any of them wouldn't understand her reasoning. Her thought was broken by the sound of her door shutting.

"Yuffie, what are you doing up so early?" Red walked out and sat down beside her with a yawn.

"Oh, just thinking... why are you up?"

"Jazzi's gone." Red looked up at Yuffie and was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at her. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Yuffie wasn't surprised that Red could sense what she was thinking. "Yeah, you're right as usual. I let her leave about four hours ago, and I think I know where she went." The young ninja pointed to the southeast at the dark storm clouds.

"Looks like Gongaga region to me. Why would she go there?"

"I don't know, but as soon as the group gets up... I feel it my duty now to help you guys to figure it out... let's keep this between us, shall we?"

Red nodded in agreement with as much of a smile as the feline could find.

"Lets start waking them up, act worried about Jazzi leaving." Yuffie and Red agreed and went inside Red waited till Yuffie headed for Cloud and Tifa's door before nudging Vincent.

"Vincent get up, Jazzi's gone!" Red nudged Vincent a bit harder as he spoke in a harsh whisper.

Vincent was awake and half way to his feet by the time Yuffie opened their door. The two were sound asleep, but surprisingly not in the same bed. Cloud was asleep with one blanket on the floor. "Um... hey you guys, Jazzi has ran away."

Cloud sat up from his little bed on the floor and stretched a bit. "She what!"

Cloud's shout woke up Tifa so she could hear Yuffie's explanation. "Yeah, Jazzi must have snuck out in the middle of the night cause Red woke me up, telling me she was gone."

"Jazzi's gone? Well good rid dens if you ask me." Tifa spoke as she stretched her arms up towards the ceiling.

"No, Tifa, this is not a good thing. If she joins up with Sephiroth than they will make a deadly team. Fighting one Sephiroth was tough. Could you imagine trying to fight two? Well personally I don't want to." Cloud was on his feet, placing his blanket on the bed. "We must find her soon before she causes trouble."

Yuffie was staring down at the floor, knowing now she shouldn't of let her go. "Cloud, I'll go with you guys. You'll need all the help you can get now. I also have a friend that will most likely help us. He's very trustworthy. I've known him for some time now." She finally looked up at Cloud, her guilt feeling less heavy. "I'll go get him while you guys get ready." Yuffie walked out of her home and went about three houses away. She knew it was very early, but had no choice but to bother him. She softly tapped on his bedroom window.

"Huh? What..." He slowly looked around and saw Yuffie's face in the window. With slow motions he made his way to his window and lifted it up. "Yes, Yuffie? What time is it?"

"It's about four in the morning, and I have a favor to ask of you?"

"Okay, hurry it up I need to sleep some more."

"Well Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Red, Barrett, and Cid are all at my house and they need our help. We need to leave right now to hunt down Sephiroth and Cloud's sister."

The tired man's eyes widened quite a bit and just stared at his young friend in disbelief. "Say what? Are you asking me to help down the legendary group hunt down Sephiroth?"

Yuffie nodded slowly with a small smile. "Yeah I am, they're getting ready right now. So if you're in get ready and come to my house."

A second later he had the window closed and blinds pulled down. Yuffie assumed he was scrambling for his clothes and such. With a smirk on her face, she headed back towards her home.

Inside Yuffie's home, everyone was making sure they had all their equipment on and ready for anything that would surely come. "Cloud! Where's my other fighting glove!"

"Check the bedroom, Tifa, I bet it's by the bed."

Tifa thought for a moment then smiled. "Oh yeah." She darted to the bedroom while dodging Barrett on her way.

He was loading his gun until it couldn't hold another single bullet. Vincent was also loading both Peace Makers he owned.

Red was calmly lying down on a pillow, watching everyone else. Cloud was polishing his Ultima as Cid was puffing away at his cigarette.

"You guys ready?" Yuffie walked through her front door and began looking around.

"No, Tifa lost a glove and Vincent is loading his pistol." Cid spoke with some slurred speech from the cigarette dangling form his lips.

"It's called a Peace Maker, Cid, not a mere pistol." Vincent put both guns away and stood up. "I'm ready to go."

"Me too!" Tifa walked into the living room, tightening her glove.

"I'm ready as well." Yuffie's friend walked in through the opened front door and looked over at everyone.

"Oh good. Everyone, this is my friend, Bowen Hart. He was trained by my father, just like Jassi and myself."

Tifa smiled at the cute man. He had dark brown hair that went down to his middle back, and it was tied back into a ponytail.

His skin was fairly tan and he had pine green eyes. Not only was he in shape, he also had style. He wore a tight white tank top, medium blue denim pants that weren't baggy or tight on him. Over his tank top he wore an old worn brown leather jacket that went down to his lower calf muscles. He also wore a silver necklace that was the shape of a lightning bolt.

"Hey where did you get that necklace, my sister use to have one just like it at one time." Cloud walked closer to the newcomer, inspecting the medallion.

"Oh I got this about a year ago from a red-headed woman I fought in a tournament and lost to... badly. For some reason she gave the necklace she was wearing to me. I've kept it as a reminder that there's always someone stronger than me out there."

Everyone kind of looked around at each other then back at Bowen. "You are wearing Jazzi's necklace!" Tifa walked up to him to also look at the medallion.

"Wait a minute... are you saying the woman who gave me this necklace was Cloud's sister?"

"Yep, Bowen, and with you here it's now two against eight. I doubt we'll have a problem with Jazzi. She won't fight against her own friends.

Cloud thought other wise, but didn't say anything.

"Okay, I'm in. I've wanted a chance to fight her necklace back to her... it's been a goal of mine ever since she had given it to me."

"Okay great. I'm Cloud if you didn't know, and we need to go to Cid's..." Cloud pointed to the blonde smoking away, "Airship just outside of town. Red thinks she headed for Gongaga."

Everyone nodded and walked out of Yuffie's home. As they walked Tifa walked up beside Bowen. "My name's Tifa, nice to meet you Bowen."

"Tifa go talk to Cloud; Bowen and I have to talk some." Yuffie looked over at Tifa with a slight glare that made her leave. "I know her too well, don't get mixed up with her. She likes to play games."

Bowen smirked a bit, "Yeah okay thanks mother. Is there any other kids you don't want me playing with?"

"Yes stay away from Jazzi. I've known her for a while now, and she is a woman on a mission right now. If you try to get in her way, she'll fight you down."

"Oh well sorry, Yuffie, but I need to fight her. I want to return this necklace."

"You never will Bowen! She's stronger than Cloud, and she knows how to use her skills."

Bowen glared at his ninja friend. "Thanks for having such confidence in me." He walked forward, up beside Tifa.

Yuffie began slowing down her walking pace as she sighed. "Great..."

Jazzi was sitting at the desk in the back of the library, reading she had been reading for about ten minutes until she finally heard noise come from the house beyond the stairwell. She placed the book down and headed upstairs towards her favorite room in the house. Once she reached the bedroom, she closed the hidden doorway. She could hear the two brothers talking downstairs, so she headed down that way. A sentence that was spoken caught her attention, making her stop and listen.

"I told you she was useful."

"Yes I'll admit she's got some power in that tiny body, but she's a loose canon. Did you see the look in her eyes when she was fighting those Tyrants?"

"Yes I did. This makes it perfect though. I now know for sure that she's going to stay on our side because she's enjoying it."

"She's also staying for you... she likes you and you know it."

"Of course I know, she brought me back to life. She wouldn't have done that unless she had feelings for me."

"What about you?"

Jazzi held her breath, waiting to hear a reply, but there was none. She finally had to take a breath and still no sound. Jazzi felt a hand tap her shoulder. She spun around to deliver a punch, but her arm was grabbed by the figure.

"Ease-dropping Jazzi?" Sephiroth let go of her arm and smirked. "One day that curiosity will get the better of you."

"Yeah I know, but that day isn't today. You don't scare me, you know."

"You're probably right. You have a fiery spirit that refuses to back down. So even if I do scare you... you'd never show it."

"How is it you know so much about me?"

Sephiroth pulled the file out of his jacket and handed it to her. "Saul and I will be working in the library. You have some reading you will want to get done."

Jazzi took the Shinra labs folder in her hands and nodded. "Yes, you're right I do want to get this read. I will be in the living room." With her arms wrapped around the folder, clutching the folder with care as she made her way down the stairs. As she made her way down, Saul passed her with the crate in his hands, heading after Sephiroth. Jazzi glared at him. He was being too nosey in her and Sephiroth's business.

"I see you're in a good mood." Saul smirked a bit then it quickly went away when her glare followed him.

Jazzi didn't waste her time explaining herself to him. She just wanted to read the papers inside the file she was clutching. She sat down on the maroon sofa that was left of the stairs. Jazzi placed the folder in her lap and looked down at it for a moment. "It's okay Jazzi, it's just your life this could alter... no big deal." After talking to herself, Jazzi opened the file folder. The first page had just a few small paragraphs on it. The main thing that caught her attention was a picture of a little girl with red hair and green eyes. "Oh my god!" It was Jazzi as a child, but a very young child. In the picture she appeared to be four or five. A time in her life that she had no memory of.

After a moment she began reading the words by the picture, reading them in a soft whisper.

"Experiment number 1-2-7, subject's name known as Jazzi or number 22. We have injected DNA of the alien being known as Jenova as well as from experiment specimen, Sephiroth. It has been an hour: no signs have shown any change. Two hours: the young child has become angry, showing signs of violence and what seems to be an electrical charge. Two hours and ten minutes: A scientist tried to calm down the child, and he was shocked to death by electrical charges stronger than natural lightning. Three hours: three more scientists have been killed, and the specimen was given a tranquilizer so she could be moved to her 'room'."

Jazzi looked up from the paper with a blank look. She had been one of Hojo's play toys and never knew it till now. Then a moment later another thought entered her mind; Cloud had to of known. How did Hojo get her to experiment on in the first place? Did her mother just let him take her? Jazzi flipped to the next page. It was a bunch of numbers on a graph, as were the next ten pages. Finally she came upon a page of nothing but words.

"Last experiment using Jenova calls failed. New specimen is female, hoping her body will react better to the alien cells. The specimen is the age of an infant, given to myself by Mr. Shinra himself. He claims a woman could serve no better purpose to him."

Jazzi couldn't continue reading. The short amount she read was almost too much. She slowly began to realize what that fully meant. She wasn't a Strife... she was a Shinra. She felt like screaming aloud. Everything Jazzi had ever known was a lie. The air around her became sickening to breath. Her thought and vision became a blur; she couldn't believe it. Then her sight went dark, and her body fell to the floor. A spark fired in her mind that caused a chain reaction deep down in the back of her memory. Reading the small amount of information caused her childhood memories to emerge. Soon Jazzi's dreams were filled with the haunting truth of her past.

"Wake up little specimen, today is the big day." Hojo tapped on the reinforced glass window of Jazzi's room.

It was a small metal room with a cot-like bed and a few trinkets made from twisting and bending melted metal. A small girl in black pants and a black t-shirt sat up on the bed with a yawn and stretch. It was Jazzi at the age of five. Her face was slightly chubby from baby fat, as well as her limbs and gut. She had crimson hair barely down to her shoulders. She slowly slipped her feet into off-white slip on shoes before making her way to the door. "Okay Hojo, I'm ready to meet my daddy." Jazzi's young self smiled brightly as Hojo began opening the door.

"Yup, Jazzi, after he sees what your capable of; he will want you to be his personal body guard. Who would suspect you of being able to cause harm? So do you remember the different attacks?"

Jazzi nodded with a large smile. "My daddy will be so proud of me." The innocent girl walked by Hojo's side towards the elevator.

The two were silent the rest of the way, until they were stopped by a doorman to the president's office.

"Professor Hojo, hello. Let me make sure the president is ready for you. Two of your lab associates are setting up some targets." The man entered through the two maroon colored doors, leaving Hojo and Jazzi waiting.

After a moment the young Jazzi began fidgeting and humming a merry medley.

"Jazzi... you can fight like an adult. To impress your father, you must also act like an adult. Be patient."

The child's humming stopped as she slowly nodded. "Okay, I'll behave. Don't worry, I won't mess anything up." She gave a sweet smile up at the man who had poked, stabbed, and zapped her all her life, but Jazzi didn't seem to care because it was all she ever had known. It seemed normal to her, and Hojo had never directly harmed her.

"You can come in now Professor."

Hojo smiled and walked slightly ahead of Jazzi through the office doors. "Hello Mr. President."

"Hurry up Hojo. You better impress me this time or Scarlet's weapons project will get most of your funding."

Hojo held in a glare and shuddered at the emotions her was holding in. "Yes sir... this is specimen 22 of our Jenova project, and here's a demonstration of what she can do at the mere age of five." Hojo moved his glasses back up on his nose and gestured Jazzi to take the center spot.

The child walked slowly as she stared at the man who was supposed to be her father.

Hojo stepped back and smiled with excitement. "Okay Jazzi go ahead."

Jazzi gulped down the nervousness that was making breathing difficult. She had already looked around and located the five targets she was supposed to 'attack'. In her mind she knew should start out with the easy moves, and end with the best... so she began. Her tiny palm was aimed towards a target on her right. Within a few short seconds a lightning bolt as tall, if not taller, than she flew through the air and blasted through the front of the target. Jazzi knew she couldn't waste any time so as her first bolt struck, she had already fired out another to the next target. Again, it hit without fail. Her hands, placed together, began to glow yellow. She tore them apart and pointed them at the ceiling, though her eyes were staring at the two targets in front of her. Two blasts of electricity shot up into the air, but began to curve down and forward. In mid air there was a small explosion that sent each bolt towards their own targets. In the blink of an eye, both targets had been destroyed, leaving just one left.

Hojo watched with anticipation. His specimen hadn't flawed once so far... the president had to be impressed. Yet, it was still always odd to see a mere child show such power. None of his other specimens gained the ability to wield any magic without the use of materia.

"Stop, I've seen enough."

Jazzi and Hojo stopped all movement and looked at the man behind the desk.

"Hojo get rid of this little girl she is a waste of our funding. Women are not meant for combat. She'd be dead in the first five minutes."

Hojo didn't get to argue because Jazzi spoke first. "But I'm not don yet. I didn't miss any targets... why don't you think I can do it?"

"You're a child... you will screw up sooner or later, and it'll be most likely sooner."

"No I won't!" Jazzi's eyes filled up with tears that made her vision blurry until she blinked, causing three tears to slide down her face. "Daddy, why don't you want me?"

The president's eyes went wide, then glared at the redheaded girl. "I am not your father! I never had a daughter! You are a waste of my time. Guards, take Hojo and his lab rat back to his laboratory!"

Jazzi was stunned as the huge man; she had been dying to meet for months, yelled at her. His words felt like knives stabbing at her. "No, daddy, you do love me!" Her eyes were red as lightning sparks exploded within them. "I'll show you I can do it!" Suddenly every piece of electrical equipment surged with energy and exploded. As each explosion occurred, electricity gathered around Jazzi till she was glowing yellow. That energy formed into a ball the size of her, and flew up to the ceiling. On impact the ball shattered as if it were made of glass and nearly fifty bolts flew about the room.

Hojo jumped behind a pillar as two sparks blasted against the floor where he once stood. Two guards and a lab scientist got hit, and fell to the ground. The president, however, did not move. He stared at the little girl, just as she stared at him.

"You are going to be put in a place where not even the sun can reach you." Mr. Shinra smirked at the child with evil malice.

Jazzi's eyes widened. She hadn't helped at all by showing her true power... she made it worse, or maybe he would never accept her. Either way, she was angry. "You will regret saying that." The remaining bolts that were flying about in the air suddenly changed their direction. The bolts flew right for the president and began to form together on their journey.

Hojo saw a smirk on Jazzi's face and his eyes went wide. "Oh no... Jazzi don't!"

It was too late; Jazzi had made up her mind. This man was evil and deserved to be punished... and Jazzi was the girl to do it. The room flashed with yellow light as the force of the attack sent Shinra's chair back until it finally fell backwards. The president did not move once his unconscious body stopped sliding across the tiled floor.

"Oh my god, Jazzi, you killed the president!" Hojo ran up towards her, and grabbed her arm tightly. "What the hell do you think you were doing!"

Jazzi turned her head quickly up at the professor. "That hurts!"

"Too bad, do you have any idea of what you've just done!"

"The president is alive... he's breathing!" Hojo's other lab assistant declared as he stood up from kneeling down to check the man's pulse.

"Good... but you're not off the hook Jazzi, you're done... you're just another failed experiment!"

Suddenly her vision began to blur again, and all went black. "Jazzi... Jazzi, are you okay?"

Her eyes opened to see Sephiroth standing above her as she laid on the sofa. She quickly sat up and looked around... she was in the old familiar mansion's living room again. It must have been some kind of vision or memory of her childhood that she had forgotten up until now. "Um... how long was I passed out?"

"I don't know... I just came down stairs to find you passed out on the floor." Sephiroth sat down on the sofa's arm, looking down at Jazzi. "So was it the folder, or do you not feel well?"

"I feel fine... I'm... I'm..." Jazzi placed her face in her hands and sighed in deeply.

"An experiment? It doesn't feel good does it... to know that you were given to some mad man to do as he pleased to you? I told you we had more in common than you thought."

Jazzi nodded slowly and looked back up at Sephiroth. He was... smiling at her. She couldn't tell if it was genuine or not, but she didn't care at this point in time. "Are we staying here for a while?"

"Yes... we'll be leaving once night falls."

"Okay... I'm going to get some sleep. I need to get some energy." Jazzi slowly stood up and gave a small smile with sigh at Sephiroth. "But before I go... I have a question. Why did you spare me that night at Nibelheim years ago?"

The question caught him off guard. He was silent for a moment as he tried to recall the night of insanity. Yes... he did spare her, he even touch her cheek with a smile. "I honestly have no idea... something deep inside me just made me do it. Must be destiny... it was not your destiny to die that night by my hand."

Jazzi nodded and padded his shoulder softly. "See you tonight. Wake me up, will you?" She didn't wait for his answer as she headed upstairs to a bedroom on her left, away from the library door where she knew they would be traveling about often among the day. The bed looked so inviting to her, she flopped down and wrapped her arms around a pillow as she laid down on her side. Jazzi closed her eyes with a slight smile of comfort that the bed provided.


	6. It Stays in the Room

Chapter 6: It Stays in the Room

"Palmer!" A middle-aged woman with blonde hair walked into a darkened bedroom with a quick stride. "Palmer, wake up you fat tub of lard! It's important!"

A rather chunky man with balding whitish-blonde hair sat up in his bed, still blinking his eyes open. "What on earth is it, Scarlet? It's barely morning."

"The Tyrants that were moving our mako motors were jumped and killed! They took the motors as well... so whoever did this, knew what they were carrying."

Palmer was out of his bed now. Scarlet had gotten his attention within just seconds. "Who did it!"

"No one knows yet, but some of the men were... fried. I don't know who or how he managed to do it. Palmer, we might have a serious problem on our hands."

"No shit we do! Especially now that he's stolen our mako motors!" Palmer wrapped a velvety navy blue robe over his boxers and t-shirt. "Have the corpses and sight searched thoroughly."

"It's already being done, whom do you think you're talking to?" Scarlet left the room and headed back to the spacious living room.

Palmer sat down on the edge of his bed and pondered what Scarlet had just said. He knew this had to be taken very seriously. Their projects that they were working on were too important to be further delayed. "Scarlet, send Hojo to the sight to help inspect the scene!"

Scarlet nodding after some thought. "Hmmm... Wow that's actually a good idea. I'll call him up right now."

"Oh my God... hey you guys, look a this." Tifa peered out the airship window at a scene where the grass was stained red with the blood of the corpses lying all over the ground. Men in uniforms were scattering all over the scene taking pictures and blocking off the area with yellow warning tape.

"Well I can guess what Jazzi was going around Gongaga now." Vincent spoke in a very frank and blunt manner. "I bet she met Sephiroth there and killed them."

"Why would they just kill them? What would be their reasoning?" Cloud peered further towards the window, and shook his head at the gore several feet below. "I wager they aren't around here anymore."

"I wouldn't think so... that would be rather stupid of them. Where to know?" Tifa sat back in her seat, not wanting to witness the bloodshed any longer.

"Isn't it obvious? They went back to their mansion... they both feel like they belong within those walls, but... still they won't stay long so lets go." Vincent turned towards the group with the same solemn look that he always has.

"That makes perfect sense... alright lets head for Nibelheim. You hear that Cid?" Cloud turned his head to the front to look over at the pilot.

"Sure did... to Nibelheim we go!" As he turned the airship northwest he sparked up his lighter and lit up another cigarette.

Cloud sighed softly as he too sat back in his seat, his mind in a deep thought. His sister was now guilty of homicide. It must have been men of importance for the fuse that was being made over them. It would soon be on the news and people would be on the look out for the duo. Not matter what Jazzi had done, he loved her and felt the need to protect her.

Jazzi laid in the bed where she had been asleep for about two hours. Suddenly she began to move quite a bit and her skin began to become damp with perspiration. Her eyelids squeezed shut as if she were in pain. Minutes went by and she began to make vocal noises as well. Grunts, and groans of despair and fear escaped her throat as the torture that was engulfing her dreams seemed to grow worse. A scream busted out of her lungs of pure terror that was loud enough to echo throughout the mansion's walls. Her eyes opened in the instant she sat up, breathing heavily with sweat dripping off her body in some places. Her look of distress did not vanish upon awakening, but continued on as she looked around in bewilderment.

Saul and Sephiroth looked at each other at the sound of a woman's scream. Without a moment's hesitation, Sephiroth began running to the room in which he had left Jazzi alone. Saul followed close behind, one blade in hand. Sephiroth entered the room to see Jazzi holding her face in her hands. "Jazzi are you alright?" He walked further into the room, beside the bed in which she now sat in.

Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice and looked at him with panic in her eyes. He was close enough to her that she was able to grab him. She wraps her arms around him and buried her face in his clothing as she began to talk. Even though it was muffled, Sephiroth could understand, but Saul could not... he just watched in puzzlement to Jazzi's odd behavior. "Oh my god... Sephiroth Hojo's alive... he's trying to find me."

Sephiroth blinked a bit; he had no idea what to say. Jazzi stopped talking, but was now crying. "Jazzi it was just a dream... don't be silly."

She unburied her face and looked up at him with her red eyes and tear soaked face. "No, it was real... I think it was a vision. I have a gut feeling that it will happen... I could see it so clearly. Hojo ambushes us and manages to take me away to his laboratory to experiment on me again. Oh Sephiroth, please I know you don't want to but please hold me. I'm scared..."

Sephiroth opened up his arms as Jazzi went to bury her face again. He slowly sat down on the bed to let Jazzi sat her head on his shoulder instead. He looked over at Saul with a look of puzzlement, but saw Saul had the same look and would be no help. "Ummm... calm down Jazzi, I promise that will never happen. Hojo will never get a hand on you as long as I'm around."

Jassi pushed away, her sadness was swept away and replaced by anger for a moment. "Why! Why would you promise such a thing? Why would you just say you'd stop Hojo till death...why!"

Sephiroth was taken back by her reaction she was displaying. "What do you mean? I said that so you..."

"Calm down! That's what I thought! You didn't say it because you meant it! You don't care what happens to me!" Her eyes saddened again and her body slumped down a bit. It seemed that she was too tired to even show her anger anymore. "and you never will..."

For some strange reason Jassi's accusations enraged Sephiroth for a brief moment. "I did mean it! I would never let Hojo take you away as long as there was a breath in my body. Do you know why!" Jassi was about to meekly say no, but Sephiroth gave her no time. "Because you have a wild spirit, Jassi, and it needs to continue being wild. If Hojo got a hold of you, he'd break it and you. Then you'd no longer ever be the same Jassi that you are now...that I want to protect, and be around." Sephiroth suddenly stopped speaking, his last words came out of nowhere and he wondered if he really meant them or not.

Jassi was also suddenly very speechless. She thought for a moment that she hadn't heard him right, but by the expression of both Sephiroth and Saul said that he had said those words. Her tears had stopped, as she just looked at him in shock. "Do you mean that?"

Saul was getting disgusted and annoyed by the chemistry we was watching unfold. He walked out of the room and headed to the library, speaking to himself. "So much for his control over the situation..."

Sephiroth looked at Jazzi's face and wondered. What was it about this girl that made his emotions flutter about in such an odd manner? Why her? Why him? He was happy being how he was, and now this woman was making him change. He wanted to be by her side right now, to comfort her, and what drove him nuts was he didn't know why! Maybe it was because she had been the only person in his entire life to have ever helped him out. She knew what he was, but did it anyways. After a moment's of pause he answered her question. "Yes... I meant that. I can't answer why because I don't know myself."

Jazzi glanced towards the door, finding Saul no longer there. "Um... what time is it?"

"Not even noon yet. You haven't slept much... maybe you should try to go back to bed?"

"No I'm okay, that nightmare made me wide awake." Jazzi grabbed at the covers and threw them off of her as she stood up. Her back was now to Sephiroth as she spoke. "So what does this mean now? Will what you just said vanish when we walk out of this room or will it stay?"

He stood up in silence as he thought about his answer carefully. He was changing inside somehow... he could feel it. It was an emotion that he never felt before and he feared it in many ways. "It'll fade away the moment I step out of this room..."

Jazzi kept her face away from his sight as she nodded and held in her emotions long enough to reply. "A typical answer... that I expected."

Sephiroth took his leave and headed towards the library to see where Saul disappeared off too.

Only after he was a ways from the room did Jazzi allow herself to sit down on the bed and let out a gasp of despair. What was wrong with him... or maybe her. He had the feelings there, but he didn't want anything to do with them or her. After a few tears she took in a deep breath and collected herself. "It's not over yet girl... I have the rest of my life to figure out men. But for now I..." Her voice trailed off at the sound of the airship's motors above the mansion's roof. Her neck jerked up as she saw the ceiling light rattle a bit. "Shit... Cloud."

Cloud, Tifa, Red, Bowen, Yuffie, Barrett, and Vincent all jumped down off of the airship while Cid waiting up in the air for them to come back out of the mansion. "Alright... no matter how we do this... we'll have to fight all three. So lets just run in while we have them by surprise." Everyone nodded in agreement as they marched to the two wide doors of the mansion, but before they could burst through, the doors flew open to show Jazzi in the entrance.

"Hello there... brother." She spoke the word with such despise that it made herself flinch. "Ha... Brother, my ass! You are no more a brother to me than I am a chocobo! How could you just go on and let me think that. How could you not tell me the truth! Tell me what I am... a Shin-Ra!"

Everyone stared at either Jazzi or Cloud in puzzlement or shock as Cloud began to speak. "I would have, Jazzi, but I didn't know how. I knew how you would feel... and to be quite honest I didn't know you were from Shin-Ra's family. I just knew mother had found you when I was little. I accepted you as my sister... so I never wanted you to not accept me."

"Well lying to me wasn't the way to prevent that! Now if you're here to battle Sephiroth, then you'll have to get through me... so come on. Less talking and more fighting... I want to let out this inner rage." Jazzi took a step forward so she was out of the mansion's entry room.

"Jazzi you can't take on all of us. You're strong, but not that strong." Tifa pointed to all of them and shook her head. "There's no way..."

"It's sweet that you care Tifa, but let me worry about my own chances, okay? I think I know my abilities better than anyone one of you... especially now that I know the truth."

Bowen stepped forward, looking at Jazzi. "You haven't changed one bit, but I bet you don't remember me."

Jazzi looked at him with puzzlement for only a moment then smiled. "Oh yes... I gave you my necklace. Do you think you've improved enough to give that back to me?"

"We'll just have to see... but not today, today it seems you have a fight with each of us."

Jazzi smirked at him and nodded slowly. "Yes, you are right... Bowen was it?"

"Yes it was."

"Alright Jazzi, step aside... we came to defeat Sephiroth, not you." Cloud stepped forward one step, sword in hand.

"Well to defeat him you'll have to get through me and you won't get that done by talking." Jazzi took her battle stance, with both daggers in her hands. She was serious, and had no problem with stopping them dead in their tracks here and now... literally.

"Fine if no one else will then it is up to me!" Tifa ran forward, but Cloud was shortly behind her, both rushing at Jazzi like they too meant business.

Jazzi met Cloud's blade with both daggers, trying to push him away as Tifa began kicking and punching Jazzi in the back and sides. Jazzi bit down on her lip and grunted as the pain from Tifa's attacks gave her the furry to throw Cloud back about eight feet. She was about to slice a dagger in Tifa's direction, but as she turned her face met Tifa's fist, which caused her to step back. "You stupid wench!" Jazzi spat bloody spit at Tifa's feet and delivered a sidekick to the chest, knocking her down.

Cloud was up and in Jazzi's face the moment after she kicked Tifa. He pressed his sword to her throat and glared. "You better stop now before you get in so deep we will be forced to kill you along with that murdering piece of filth inside!"

Jazzi smiled as she stared into his mako eyes. "Oh Cloud, you silly little boy. You couldn't even kill him the first time... what makes you think you can accomplish it the second time?"

"This time I will chop his head off to make sure!"

Jazzi's eyes widened than she laughed at him. "How will you do that when you can't even beat me?" Jazzi stabbed one of her daggers into his thigh, and twisted the blade ninety degrees as Cloud let out a scream of torturing pain.

Sephiroth heard the noise and started to walk towards the stairwell. Saul saw him get up and shortly after began to follow.

Cloud grabbed Jazzi up by the shirt, and glared at her, speaking through gritted teeth. "No you are not my sister! So I no longer feel the need to protect you, in fact I don't feel bad for doing this!" Cloud swung Jazzi's body into the mansion. She hit the side of the stairwell, breaking off many wooden rails, then landed on a coffee table. Dust went flying in ever direction, making it impossible to see anything around the stairs from the outside.

As the dust began to clear up, Sephiroth was slowly walking down the stairs with his masamune in hand and Saul by his side. "Here I am Cloud... for some reason I think you came here to fight me, not Jazzi. Are you truly ready to fight me one on one again? That's right, one on one. Saul and Jazzi can battle your yuppies."

From behind him, walked out Jazzi... dust covered and walking with a slight limp, but in one piece still. She leaned on Saul slightly and smirked. "Yeah Saul, we can whoop them."

Everyone stared at Saul with confusion for a few seconds until Sephiroth began to introduce him.

"This is my second partner in crime... Saul, my brother." Sephiroth smirked then glowered at Cloud. "Let's start this!" He lunged forward, masamune thrusting towards Cloud.

His wide sword made it easy to block Sephiroth's first attack. Then the swords were pushing against each other, clangs and sparks flew as they pushed and sliced at each other.

Tifa and Bowen rushed to aid Cloud, but Jazzi and Saul ran in to intercept them. Jazzi kicked Tifa back, as did Saul to Bowen. "Your fight is with us. Come on Tifa, you've always been bragging that you could kick my ass... lets see it."

Tifa ran at Jazzi, fell to the ground and slid in between her legs. Tifa stood up to find Jazzi half turned around and about to deliver another punch to her face. In a quick act, Tifa grabbed Jazzi's crimson locks in her hands and swung Jazzi in a 180 degrees turn than into the ground.

Saul reached to grab Tifa's hair, but Bowen kicked his arm back. "Think again pal." Bowen and Saul began punching, kicking, and blocking each other's attacks until Yuffie threw a Chinese star into Saul's leg which gave Bowen a chance to kick him down to the ground.

Saul screamed in pain as he ripped out the star, and then threw it back at Yuffie, landing it right in her shoulder. She fell backwards in a scream of surprise and pain, but stopped as the wind was knocked out of her by hitting the ground. As soon as the star left his hand, Saul then kicked Bowen's legs out from under him. As he got to his feet, he stepped back just in time to miss Barrett's bullets start to fly towards him. Saul jumped up into the air, and started a marathon of dodging bullets.

Jazzi was up now with Tifa's throat underneath her boot. "This is the last thing you'll ever see." She reached down to Tifa and ripped out a chunk of her hair. "Now we're even." Jazzi began to apply pressure to her enemy's slender throat, and grinning as Tifa's face began to grow redder. "Any last words? Oops my bad... I forgot you can't talk if you can't breath." She laughed a bit, but her celebration was cut short as Red leaped across the air and tackled Jazzi off of Tifa and into the dirt.

"Have you gone mad Jazzi!" Red growled as he spoke at her as he pinned her to the ground.

Jazzi shook her head then sighed heavily. Red cocked his head to the side and was about to ask if she was okay... afraid he might have hurt her, but didn't have the time. She kicked him off of her and through the air. Jazzi jumped to her feet and watched Red land back on the ground. "Get use to being down there Red if you keep getting in my way, but you're my friend... so that's all I will ever do to you." She turned her back and charged herself upon the only man who wasn't charging into battle, Vincent.

Sephiroth had Cloud against the mansion's outside wall with only their swords in between them. "Face it Cloud, you are just a pathetic copy of me... you can't beat the original bad ass of this world. Why bother... you're just bringing yourself to a even bigger fall." Sephiroth pushed his masamune even closer towards Cloud, until he had his face only six inches from Cloud's. "You don't really believe you can win, do you?"

Cloud gritted his teeth as he tried to continue pushing against Sephiroth, refusing to give up so easily. His biceps, triceps, and every other muscle near his arms began to ache with the effort. "I will never give up until one of us are dead!"

Saul was beginning to tire of dodging bullets, so he did a back flip off of a wall, and into Barrett. With Barrett on the ground, Saul pulled out his one handed sword and cut threw Barrett's machine gun like it was butter. Sparks flew for a few seconds while Saul stood up and looked down at Barrett, holding his arm in disbelief. "Not so tough now are you big man?" Saul kicked him in the chest with a smirk, but stopped as he heard another scream among the fight.

Jazzi had a Chinese star in her back as she fought with Vincent. Now with every movement causing her pain, she was loosing the battle fast. Vincent was kicking the shit out of her. Saul ran to her aid, and took over Vincent's priority as Jazzi fell to all fours, and reaching for her back to yank out the star. Before she could, Yuffie ripped it out herself. "Jazzi you need to get your priorities straight... and I'm going to make sure you do." Yuffie pulled out her own version of a giant Chinese star, and aimed it at Sephiroth's back. "Kiss your man goodbye."

Jazzi's eyes widened, even though she didn't see what Yuffie was doing, she knew she was serious. She ignored the pain stabbing through her and got to her feet in an instant. "Yuffie don't you do it!"

"Well Jazzi if you don't want to see your man lying on the ground with this in his back... than you better stop me. We are enemies now! So you better prove it to me."

"Yuffie... don't do this. If you step away no one has to die. Don't think I won't stop you... I will!"

"Than you better do it... because if I make it to ten... your man is dead... 1, 2, 3..."

"Yuffie don't you even think about!"

"6, 7, 8, 9..."

Jazzi screamed at the top of her lungs then fell to her knees with a saddened look as she softly spoke "10".

Yuffie gasped a bit as she looked down... she saw one of Jazzi's daggers standing out of her right lung. It was a direct hit, and she knew it was fatal, and she... smiled! "You always were a woman of your word. I may die your enemy... but I will remember you as a friend. I don't bare you any ill will."

Jazzi covered her mouth as a tear fell down her face. "I'm so sorry Yuffie... you wouldn't quit!"

Yuffie fell to the ground... dead.

Jazzi grabbed her hair and pulled on it a bit in frustration, as a tear trickled down her face. "I'm so sorry Yuffie... I too will always remember you as a friend." She slowly stood up, and saw that no one even noticed... everyone was fighting or looking at something else fighting. Jazzi wasn't in the mood to fight anymore at that precise moment... so she was determined to make it stop. Her attention turned to the skies as clouds began to roll in, and began to turn a dark gray. Her eyes traveled than about the town, trying to find a building of non-importance. Soon she found it, and it only took a few seconds for an almighty bolt to leap down from the sky and strike it. The well in the middle of the town exploded in fire and a wall of wood splinters.

Everyone that was fighting, stopped. They turned around to see nothing but a smoking stump in the middle of town and Jazzi standing over Yuffie's dead body. She slowly pulled her dagger from Yuffie's body and stood to find Sephiroth staring at her in surprise... as well as everyone else.

Cloud got up from the ground and dusted himself off. He had a cut running down his arm, but it was now covered in dirt. He looked down at Yuffie than up at his sister and walked forward. "How could you? Jassi... she was your friend!"

"Don't you think I know that! She left me no choice... it's like she wanted me to! She was going to kill Sephiroth, and I had to stop her!" Jazzi wiped the bloody dagger on Yuffie's shorts than put it back in her boot.

Cloud glared at her and shook his head. "You have changed Jazzi. I would have never even thought you'd do something like this."

"Well I did... and you know what!"

"What?"

"If you don't shut up... I might do it again." Jazzi flickered a few sparks of lightning in her eyes at her so-called brother, then looked over at Sephiroth. He was unharmed... which didn't surprise her. She soon found Saul... he was bleeding from a few places... didn't surprise her either. The odds were slightly better now... two to one, but Jazzi still didn't feel like fighting any more.

Cloud sighed a bit than held his sword tightly. "You know what Jazzi? I want to see it."

Jazzi's eyes widened in shock as she looked over at the spiky-haired man. "You want to see what?"

"I want to see you try and do it again... right here right now... you and me!"

"Cloud... you've gone completely mad." Jazzi smirked and went to walk by him, but he swung his blade at her. She jumped back just in time and looked at him with wide eyes. "Are you insane?"

"Maybe I am! Let's find out!" Cloud had his sword gripped tightly in both hands with a very odd expression on his face.

Everyone looked at one another then finally Tifa walked up to Cloud and put one hand on his shoulder. "Cloud lets go... the others are carrying Yuffie to the airship. We're taking her home to be buried there... come on Cloud."

His eyes slowly left Jazzi's and his odd expression of madness went away as he nodded. "Yeah... let's go Tifa."

Everyone left in a solemn pace out of town and towards the airship. The only person who spoke was Saul. "Three to seven... I think we did very well for ourselves. Well six now thanks to Jazzi." Saul placed a hand on her shoulder, but it was immediately brushed off.

In silence, Jazzi walked back into the mansion, grabbed her dagger lying on the floor and then headed into the room in which she had slept for a while.

Saul looked over at Sephiroth. "She's moody. I think it's a bad idea to keep her around. Women are usually trouble when they're normal... imagine how dangerous she can be."

Sephiroth looked over at the mansion, then Saul... then back at the mansion. He too left Saul standing there as he went in silence after Jazzi.

"What is with every body? We won the fight didn't we?" Saul was unanswered... not like an expected a reply, but he shrugged it off. "Fine then, I'll go and be the one doing all the work..." Saul headed into the building, but took a right turn at the top of the stairs instead of following. He planned on continuing the study on what the mysterious mako motors could be used for.

Jazzi was sitting on the bed, facing away from the door when Sephiroth entered after her. No words were spoken as he sat down beside her, and looked at her. It took her a few moments to even look upon him. Once she did, her chin was held by his thumb and index finger. He slowly pulled her to him, and pressed his lips to hers. Jazzi's eyes widened... did he even know what he was doing?

When Sephiroth pulled away he lowered his hand and spoke, with a still smile-less face. "I know how you care for me... I've always known it, but it is only now I can see just how much. And there is but one thing I must ask... why?"

Jazzi looked deep into his eyes for a few moments then sighed. "The reason I care for you so much is because I know why you did the things you did. In fact I know most were done by Jenova and not you."

"But here I am today... doing the same things, and you are too with out any signs of Jenova... why?"

"Because I just do. Ever since I met you that day years ago... I don't know why. My heart just melted of the sight of you and you alone. You can't choose you who fall in love with it just happens, and I believe you know that too. Because I know you would never have chosen to fall for any one. It would get in the way of your masterful plan. See I know how you are, but still I feel this uncontrollable feeling for you. It's painful, because I doubt you will return my affection in full any day soon."

Sephiroth put his hand around her neck and pulled her close, kissing her deeply another time. This time it took longer for him to pull away, but he did. He stood up and walked towards the door, went to speak but soon found there was no need.

"Stays in this room, doesn't it?" Jazzi had her head turned to him, body still facing away. Even though she knew the answer, her face was lit up with a smile.

Sephiroth nodded in silence than left the room.


	7. A Trio Looses One

Chapter 7: A Trio Looses One

After a few hours of thought, Jazzi found the strength to walk down into the library where Sephiroth and Saul were working to solve the mystery of the mako motors. Just looking at the man who had moments ago kissed her, made her face flush into a light pink color. Why had he kissed her, if he didn't intend on pursuing her? Was he just that screwed up... or was she? Jazzi was staring at him, but was in such deep thought she didn't notice it, or when he spoke to her.

"Jazzi... Jazzi, what's wrong? You okay?" Sephiroth nudged her slightly and then she finally blinked her eyes and looked up at his face.

"What? Oh, um yeah I just came to see how you guys were doing and if I could help in some way."

Saul smiled at her and nodded. "I think I have a job for you. These motors were meant for the ancient weapons that Sephiroth brought to life not so long ago. We think Shin-Ra, or what's left of them, is trying to control those beasts."

"Okay, where do I fit in exactly?" Jazzi crossed her arms across her chest and looked at both of them. She had the feeling she wasn't going to like their assignment.

"Well Jazzi, we thought you could go with me and find their new hiding spot. If we could see how far they are away from controlling the weapons, we would know how much time we in turn have to take them for our own us."

Jazzi looked at Sephiroth with wide eyes. "You intend on trying to control the weapons! That's insane! You could destroy everything, or get yourselves killed!" In the back of her mind she was crying. Sephiroth was more power hungry than she first knew... using the weapons was a dumb idea, and a dangerous one. He could never love her... Jazzi now knew that the kiss they shared was just to calm her down. Sephiroth was no fool when it came to her, and she now knew it.

"Won't you go and at least poke around with me Jazzi? It would be useful information either way if we knew what they were up to." Sephiroth looked upon her with his emotionless face.

Jazzi let out a sigh as she nodded. "I will help you look around, but that doesn't mean I'll help you with your other scheme." If Jazzi didn't leave soon, she may kiss Sephiroth right there and then. She wanted him and couldn't help it, but worse she knew she couldn't. She felt tears drawing near and left before they noticed. As she went up the spiral stairway, her mind screamed. Why on earth did she have to love him! Anyone would be better for her... anyone else could love her back. Her tears flooded out as she lost control. Not being able to have his affections was killing her, and she was killing for him, literally. The thought of Yuffie being buried was almost too much for her to bare. She had murdered one of her dearest friends... for a man who refused to show his compassion towards her. She wiped away the tears and sighed, collecting herself. She decided right then and there that no man would make her cry again.

"Dr. Hojo, sir... we have the samples back from the Tyrant's homicide, and here are your results." A young man, in is mid twenties handed Hojo a manila folder, with papers poking out slightly.

Hojo took them without a word spoken and began looking through them. It took only a few minutes for a smile to form on his lips and she silently mouthed a word... and that word, was a name... Jazzi.

"What a fucking bitch!" Tifa fumed as she walked about the airship during the landing. "I can't believe Jazzi did this!"

"I agree... I never believed she was capable of such atrocities. Life has gave her and us a three-sixty turn." Red sighed heavily as he walked out into the light.

Cloud was grimly silent during the whole flight, and even now as he carried Yuffie's limp body towards the village. Everyone walked behind him, silent as well. Tifa, and Barret were still showing their outrage on their faces.

Trying to explain what had happened to Yuffie's father was a hard task. Cloud managed through it without loosing his composure. The group stayed to show their respect to Yuffie as the three days of the ceremony went on slowly.

"I don't see the point of you going with me." Jazzi walked through the busted front of the mansion and towards the town's center. "I can snoop around there easier by myself."

Sephiroth walked out somewhat behind her with his grim expression that didn't reveal any emotion. "Because, if something were to happen, both of us fighting are better odds than just one. Don't you think?"

Jazzi became flushed with rage and lust. She needed to get away from Sephiroth for a while. He was making her insides so hot she thought she was about to melt, and it annoyed her that she caused none of this on him. "Whatever Sephiroth, you always have to be right so what's the use in arguing with you?" She walked off without letting him talk. If he wasn't going to return her feelings then she didn't want to hear anything from him... at least for the moment.

Not even a half an hour later, they were standing in Gongaga, looking about to find an opening into Shinra's hideout. "You know, it's probably not even in town. I doubt those Tyrants were going to walk through town with that silly crate and expect no one to ask questions."

"You also have to remember Jazzi that that was at night when nobody would be out to ask questions." Sephiroth continued to look about for an opening, but Jazzi had had enough for now.

"I'm going to the bar and relaxing for a bit. Happy hunting." She walked off into the bar and sat down. Immediately, of course, the bar tender noticed her and offered to buy her drink. Since Jazzi didn't have money, she happily agreed. She sipped at the glass for a while until she noticed that four men in the bar were in Tyrant uniform. It didn't take much longer for one of the men to get up and head into a back room, and when he didn't return after fifteen minutes, Jazzi followed. To her delight, he wasn't anywhere to be seen... which meant he had left through a secret door. Her eyes began scanning the walls and anything else in the room.

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth looked at her from the doorway.

"It's in this room, Sephiroth. The door is somewhere in here." She quickly began looking about again but stopped shortly after starting. "I found it." She reached out her hand and pressed in on the right wall, and sure enough, it opened up into an elevator.

Sephiroth just gave a small smirk and walked in beside her, pressing the button for the bottom level. "What are you going to do if we see Hojo?"

Jazzi froze, the thought of seeing him, even here never came across her mind. She couldn't imagine what she may do if she saw him... maybe she would go into a rage and kill him, or maybe she would run away again to where he would never find her.

"Hey, you there?"

"...Yeah, sorry. I don't know what I'd do. You don't think we'll see him, do you?"

"There's the possibility." With that said, the elevator opened up to a room bigger than any Jazzi had ever seen, and sure enough the two monstrous weapons that Sephiroth said they had were being welded and screwed together.

Jazzi darted to the left and headed down the metal stairs with Sephiroth right behind her. Men in Tyrant uniforms stood out from the mob of men in white lab coats, testing and analyzing everything they could get their hands on. "This place is swarming, we won't be unseen for much longer." She crouched down behind three large yellow barrels. "Okay, where now?"

Sephiroth shrugged, "You need to go and steal one of the scientist's clipboards. The information we'll need will be on them."

Jazzi gave him a slight glare. "Yeah, sure... make yourself comfortable." Her eyes darted about the busy area, looking for a near by scientist with a clipboard. After a moment she turned to Sephiroth with an accusing look. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go over there and look?"

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows a bit and smirked. He did just that. As he slowly made his way unseen, his head was full of thoughts, none of which about the task at hand. Was Jazzi a good idea or not? With her around, Sephiroth was endanger of loosing his malevolent ways that had got him this far. True he would not be here right now if it wasn't for the sassy attitude Jazzi possessed. He shook his head of the thoughts to make sure he wasn't going to be seen in his haze of thought.

The sly Jazzi was only a matter of a few feet from the scientist she planned to steal from. His back was to her, which was great. He had long black hair... looked rather greasy, she observed. Jazzi could see slight signs he might be wearing glasses, like all lab rats. She knew what she was going to do, but doing it was another story without being seen. She looked about, and saw everyone busy. She was upon the scientist, but he turned around on her before she could make her next move. The face that stared back at her caught her breath. She backed up, nearly tripping on a large cable. "Hojo!"

His eyes were glossy from behind his glasses, and they stared at Jazzi with malice. "Oh my sweet Jazzi, how did I know you would be back here? Where's your partner?"

Her red hair flew from side to side as she shook her head vigorously. "You can't do anything to me now." She stopped backing up, but her heartbeat didn't quit racing. Her eyes dropped to his clipboard for a second... she still had to get that. She had to rid herself of these childhood demons, right now. Her eyes glared then at the man. "You won't ever lay a finger on me again!" She was in a position to throw a lightning bolt at him, and would have, had the alarm not gone off. Her eyes jumped around her, looking at all the men now staring at her. She was in trouble... her mind acted quickly and charged on Hojo. She managed to push him back with one hand, and rip the clipboard away with the other. He was a weakly, skinny grotesque man that slowly started to fill up her memories that she never knew were there.

"Jazzi! Come on god damn it!" Sephiroth was slicing through any man that was foolish enough to come within range of his masamune.

Before her hands could touch Hojo more than a few mere moments, she was running the way she had come. She had to stop, kick, punch, and dodge on her way, but made it within a minute's time. She literally had to jump over the corpses to gain entrance to the elevator that Sephiroth was protecting. Jazzi pressed the up button as Sephiroth stabbed one last man as the doors closed. The elevator was silent except for the faint sound of the alarm floors below them, ringing loudly. Jazzi had the clipboard hugged to her bosom like she feared that it might disappear.

Sephiroth sheathed his masamune and looked to Jazzi. "Good job, you got it. Just act normal, and maybe we'll get out of town without anymore trouble."

She stood up straight beside him with a blank expression. Jazzi turned her head to him and handed over the clipboard with a quick shove. "You take the fucking thing; I don't want to touch it anymore." The elevator door opened, and she walked out first. Jazzi couldn't have cared less if she looked suspicious... she wanted to release some of her anger.

Sephiroth exited a few steps behind Jazzi, and quickened his pace to get beside her. The two left the bar, but not without being noticed by three Tyrants.

The three men waited a minute before following the two characters. The Tyrants exited the bar, and started firing their guns. Seven bullets whizzed through the air, headed straight for the two.

Both, Jazzi and Sephiroth, heard the gunfire and swerved to either side. Jazzi turned to face the gunners as she moved to the side. Her evasion attempts were no good because a bullet hit Jazzi in the upper left thigh. A scream exploded from her lips, but she didn't fall. Sephiroth did a ground roll to avoid the shots and succeeded. Within a second of securely standing, Sephiroth had his masamune drawn and began walking forward.

The Tyrants' gunfire turned towards Sephiroth since he was the one drawing closer. Bullet after bullet flew through the air, ready to greet Sephiroth with deadly intent.

Sephiroth used his masamune to reflect the bullets, sending ricochet in all different directions.

Jazzi glared at the men occupied with who they believed was the greater threat. She didn't have to move an inch to harm these fools. Her emerald eyes vanished behind an explosion of electrical sparks. Before Sephiroth could reach the three men, Jazzi's anger had taken care of them. A lightning bolt flew from her hands, and in mid-air split into three smaller, but still deadly bolts. Each bolt hit their target, killing the Tyrants, instantly.

Sephiroth sheathed his masamune, and walked up to Jazzi... her eyes were still sparking with electrical energy. "Feel better?"

"Sort of, but my leg doesn't... could you heal me so we can get going?"

"You are prone to injuring this leg." He bent down and placed his hand over the bullet wound.

Jazzi clenched her jaw tightly as the healing spell drew the bullet out, causing quite a lot of pain. Soon the wound was completely healed.

Sephiroth stood back up, jumping to the air and flying off towards the mansion.

Jazzi sighed, bending the newly healed leg to make sure. Then she was gone with only a pale yellow streak to suggest she had been there, and the three dead men left behind.

Hojo had his hands full, getting things in order. The bodies were almost gone from where Sephiroth had slain them. Once enough of the mess was gone, and the men had calmed down; Hojo began getting a team together to recruit soldiers. Now that he knew Jazzi was really alive and with Sephiroth, he planned on getting her back... by force. Hojo knew it would take almost an army to win the battle, but he was not concerned with time... she would stay with him; they were too much alike. Hojo had a feeling Sephiroth would be in the mansion, but not for long. "Oh well." He walked amongst the hectic people as he spoke to himself. "Maybe they will come to me again."

A man yelled for Hojo's attention, and motioned for him to come towards him.

Hojo pushed the topic of Jazzi aside for a moment, certain they would be back sooner or later.

Jazzi arrived at the mansion a minute or so before Sephiroth, greeting him with a small smile of triumph. "I move faster than you."

Sephiroth smirked at her. "I wasn't trying to go fast; next time I'll know better." He kept walking, and entered the half-demolished entrance.

Saul was waiting for them both, eager to read the report they were supposed to bring back. He approached the two, and smiled, looking to the clipboard. "Alright, you actually got it. Let me see it." Saul reached out, taking the report.

Jazzi remained silent, walking by Saul, and headed into the hallway to the right of the stairway.

Saul stared at the report, reading away as he mindlessly walked up the stairs. He said something to Sephiroth, but it was mumbled and undecipherable.

Sephiroth was left alone in the opened room. He kicked a small piece of wood across the floor. After a few minutes, he decided to go check to see what Jazzi was doing. AS he walked down the small hallway, he started to hear a noise, sounding something like... water, maybe? The door was shut, all but an inch closed off. Sine the door was slightly a jarred; Sephiroth took the liberty to push the door open.

Jazzi heard the door move, and flipped her head around to look why. Her cheeks turned a slight pink as she saw Sephiroth staring at her blankly. Jazzi grabbed a towel, and covered up quickly, concealing her naked body.

Sephiroth stood in slight shock, he didn't look away... maybe because his mind couldn't recover fast enough, or maybe he just didn't want to look away.

Jazzi finally got her voice back to break the silence. "Can I help you!" She was slightly glaring at him now. The shower was running hot water that started to heat the room and fog up the windows and mirror.

He blinked a bit then cleared his throat. "I was coming to just see what you had walked off for." As he spoke, his eyes looked at her barely covered body.

"Well now you know. Can you please..." Her voice lost its strength again as Sephiroth slowly walked towards her. His hands grabbed onto the towel, and pushed it down to the floor. Her eyes went wide, looking into his face; her mind so full of questions. Her mouth opened to speak, but it stayed silent as Sephiroth kissed her, deeply.

The bathroom door shut and the shower ran... for over an hour. Saul was within the library, reading away, clueless to what was going on above him.

Darkness came, as Jazzi was placing on her boots. Her eyes looked over to Sephiroth, who was replacing his long coat. She bit her lip slightly, thinking of what to say. "Um... this is real now? You can't just walk away from this one?"

Sephiroth fastened his coat together, and then looked upon Jazzi. Her hair was soaking wet and dark... though, so was his own. They had shared a moment that was too deep to ignore. He didn't exactly know what caused him to even create the moment, but he didn't regret it. "No, you're right, I wouldn't want to. Come on, we need to get out of this room... I'm burning up." He offered her his hand to help her up, and they walked into the front room.

Jazzi smiled at him, covering her mouth to hide a yawn. "I'm going to go to bed. You should think about it too." She gave him a wink, walking upstairs and to her bed she had been sleeping in. As she walked into the bedroom, her face lit up. He had let into his feelings, and the result was... well an experience she was not going to forget. She removed her boots and laid down in bed. Her body was tired, but her mind buzzed with activity. She didn't know how long she had been laying there before she heard a noise came from behind her. Before she could turn around, Sephiroth was laying down beside her. She let him curl up near her till their bodies were pressed together. Her mind no longer wandered and she found sleep.

Sephiroth laid still, his arm wrapped over her, while she slept. He wasn't really tired, but quickly felt as if he was. The comfort of her body near his was too much, and his eyes grew heavy. After only about ten minutes, he was soundly asleep with Jazzi.

Now, Saul finally stopped hovering over the report and walked upstairs. "Damn, how late is it?" He saw it was midnight practically and started walking around for one of the two. "Sephiroth?" He didn't hear an answer, so he went to wake Jazzi where she had been sleeping. When he entered the room, he stopped dead in his tracks. His brain knew what he was seeing, but it couldn't compute it. Jazzi's body was curled up in the curve of Sephiroth's... and his arms around her! He blinked a bit then nodded slowly, agreeing that it was indeed real. His body turned, followed slowly by his gaze. Saul decided he needed to sleep, so he went to the other hall, and slept in the bedroom.

Morning came all too soon for Jazzi. Her eyes opened lazily, but within a second she was awake... Sephiroth wasn't there anymore. She sat up and looked about... nothing. She decided to slip on her boots and walk downstairs.

Saul greeted her at the stairway with a look of malice on his face.

Jazzi was startled and stepped back a bit. "What in the hell is wrong with you?" She almost smirked at him once she got her bearings, starting to walk around him. "Have you seen Sephiroth?"

He grabbed her arm tightly before she could get around him, glaring at her. "Yes... I have, but it's too bad you won't."

She looked down at her arm, then up at him. "What's the big idea! Let go of me prick!" Her eyes widened at the look Saul was giving her. She wasn't given anytime to react further, his free hand hit her across the face to where her eye felt like it was going to pop out. If he hadn't of been holding onto her arm, she would have fallen down the stairs. Her head turned towards him just in time to receive another mind numbing blow. This one made a gasp escape her mouth. Pain shot through her face, and down her spine it seemed. She didn't let the pain stop her from escaping his grasp. Her body started sparking with electricity, sending volt after volt into Saul's body from where he held onto her. The trick worked, but not without a cost.

"You fucking bitch!" Saul not only let go of her, but threw her with a sharp shove.

Jazzi's eyes widened as she fell backwards, then tumbled down the stairs. Her head hit one of the railings, breaking it in two as she went down. Once she landed on the bottom floor and stopped rolling, she got up to her feet. She looked up for Saul, and sure enough he was already half way down the stairs, sword in hand... he was going to kill her!

He clenched the sword with both hands, grinning evilly. "Don't worry about it Jazzi, I have already thought of a lie to feed Sephiroth. You haven't caused so much damage yet that he won't forget you. He will continue on like you never existed... but only if I get rid of you now!" He swung his sword across the air, stretching his arm as far as it would go, trying to slice Jazzi in two.

Her eyes widened, jumping back... just enough to stop him from killing her. His sword made contact and cut into her flesh on her side. She fell to the ground and looked up at Saul in shock. "I don't want to hurt you... you're Sephiroth's brother. He'd never forgive me!"

Saul smirked at her. "I thought this was going to be a challenge... but look at you, you're at my mercy." He brought the sword down upon her, wanting in everyway to slice her body in half!

Jazzi saw his sword begin to come down and closed her eyes tightly. 'Forgive me'... she thought as her body exploded with pale yellow light, that flew out, and in mid-air it turned into a pale blue. Saul met his death before he knew what was coming. The blade he met to be her doom, fell harmlessly beside her as he fell to the ground. Jazzi opened her eyes to look at him and sighed out loud. His body had a hole through it the size of a basketball, with no blood escaping the wound, since the intense heat cauterized it. She frowned as she stood up, just staring at the corpse. "Oh shit..." She walked to the stairs and sat down, holding onto her side. She realized it was bleeding pretty bad... her shorts getting stained with crimson. She had lost track of time, wondering what was going to happen when Sephiroth saw this. She was over whelmed with grief... she had killed Yuffie... and now Saul, Sephiroth's brother. Just when he had opened up to her...this had to happen. Her eyes started to water as she held her head in her hands, and she began to cry.


End file.
